Assistive Technology for Older People

The human race continually strives toward an increased quality of life (QoL) and health, both of which become more susceptible to decline as we evolve to live life longer. Balancing this paradigm shift presents a worldwide problem with factors such as economic drivers, comorbidities, and ever-evolving tech- nology adding to the complexity of potential solutions. As health care makes its early transition into the realms of self-management and is coupled with a clearly identi ed need in terms of managing long-term chronic conditions, the role of assistive technology (AT) becomes particularly signi cant. Such a care provision should become increasingly person-centric and, thus, AT will become more ubiquitous.This chapter highlights and summarizes these wider trends and goes on to focus on case studies, which emphasize the role, responsibility, and poten- tials that assistive technologies have, particularly in the support of older people. The several sections focus on different AT areas, describing chronic care as well as the use of telecare and telehealth. This chapter concentrates on “high- tech” AT and not on “low-tech,” such as glasses, wheelchairs that are listed and partially covered elsewhere (cf. Hammel, 2004 and Chapter 17). Case studies in AT are given before wearable technology to support older people is explored. Then, a review of the use of physical exoskeletons follows. The nal sections brie y review the use of care robots to aid older people.