As China enters a stage of deep population aging, the tension between workforce shortages in long-term care and the need to safeguard older adults’ quality of life has become increasingly pronounced. As an emerging technological pathway, AI-Based Care systems have gradually been introduced into Elderly Care Spaces. These systems offer advantages in continuity and customizability and can, to some extent, alleviate labor cost pressures. However, in practice, the diffusion of AI-Based Care still faces challenges such as insufficient acceptance among older adults and a lack of Trust in the technology. To address these issues, this study builds on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and develops a structural equation model to systematically examine the relationships between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions and older adults’ Use Intention and Actual Use Behavior regarding AI-Based Care. In addition, Trust is introduced as a key mediating variable to investigate its structural pathways within the interplay of psychological, social, and technological factors. The results indicate that, within the UTAUT framework, Trust plays a significant mediating role in older adults’ adoption of AI-Based Care, strengthening the link between perceived factors and Use Intention, while also exhibiting a significant moderating effect between the social environment and technological attributes. This study extends the applicability of technology adoption theory in eldercare contexts and provides empirical evidence and practical implications for the intelligent transformation of Elderly Care Spaces.
Fu et al. (Sat,) studied this question.