Table 5 Barriers to the use of smart home health technologies in the care of older persons
Main Barriers of Technologies | Mentioned by # of articles | Sub-Themes |
|---|---|---|
Usability | 110 | a) Design was not conducive for easy use |
b) Disruptive to end-user | ||
c) Technical problems with battery life, connectivity, incompatibility | ||
d) Low technology maturity | ||
e) Should account for functional limitations | ||
f) Design should be more reliable and accurate | ||
g) Should be customizable | ||
Social acceptance | 69 | a) Valuable for future needs |
b) Formal caregivers perceive benefit | ||
c) Too difficult or annoying to use | ||
d) Others may not approve | ||
Cost-related issues | 44 | a) Not affordable |
b) Would use if financed or reimbursed | ||
c) Informal caregivers less sensitive to cost, but should not have a right to disrupt choices of older persons | ||
d) High cost could result in distributive injustice | ||
Loss of relationships or increase of loneliness | 22 | a) Fear the loss of human contact |
b) While family caregivers do not believe technology could weaken their commitment | ||
Other concerns | 25 | a) Increase workload of caregivers |
b) Unnecessary or useless, only a portion generated useful information | ||
c) Lack of clarity to data processing |