Gerontechnology: The importance of user participation in ICT development for older adults

Abstract

With the ageing of our society and the increasing pressure on health and aged care services, the need for technological solutions to help older people stay in their own home for as long as possible is becoming increasingly important. To create information and communications technology (ICT) that will fit with the way older people live their lives and wish to use technology, necessitates their involvement in the design and development process. This paper will highlight some of the issues when designing for and with older people, and highlights the need for more research on how to involve older persons as stakeholders when designing technology for their use, as well as the need for easily accessible guidelines for how to do this.