Investigating enablers and barriers of health-related assistive technologies: long-term results of sustained use by older adults in urban and rural regions

Information and communication technology (ICT) support for active and healthy aging (AHA) has risen in prominence over recent years with a goal of facilitating and promoting a self-sustaining lifestyle for older adults. Following a user-centered, participatory, ethnography-based approach, we established a basis for sustained long-term use of ICT for AHA support. Working with two groups of older participants in Germany (aged 61–76 at the outset) over the course of a four-year international project, we facilitated the development of social learning spaces and introduced participants to health-related technologies, exploring enablers as well as barriers to their long-term use. Findings indicate that a mutual interaction between health aspects and social factors was a vital motivator of sustained technology use and that this played a key role in the perceived usefulness of health-related devices. However, this dynamic only emerged over time. Barriers included age-related usability issues and privacy- and data security-based concerns about technology.