With technology revolutionizing nearly every aspect of our lives, it would seem that a variety of tech solutions, applied individually or in combination, could significantly enable healthy aging in older adults. For example, caregiver support technology exists to help manage medication, connect with service providers, coordinate communication, and more. However, results from a newly released study from the Global Social Enterprise Initiative (GSEI) at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and Philips show non-professional caregivers are unintentional barriers to technology adoption and usage by older adults in their care – even though they acknowledge it can be an important way of enriching the care recipient’s life. Among other findings, the study revealed it is not the caregiver’s lack of desire or ability that prevents them from introducing new technology to their care recipients, but are rather so overwhelmed with the day-to-day care responsibilities that they don't seem to have the time or patience to teach their loved one about how to use technology for seniors.
75% of non-professional caregivers think teaching tech to seniors would be fun and 66% of care recipients are ready to learn Source: Aging Well: Family Matters in Caregiving and Tech Adoption
Caregivers are key to engagement and adoption
About the Aging Well initiative
Through a collaborative partnership and joint research, Philips and the Global Social Enterprise Initiative (GSEI) at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business conducted a multi-year, three-part study on aging. Experts and industry leaders came together to examine the results and explore solutions to help people age at home, or age in place, for as long as possible.
2015 Roundtable attendees
Terry Bradwell, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer, AARP Alan Brightman, Vice President & Research Fellow, Yahoo! Labs Denise Brown, Founder, Caregiving.com Mary Lee Chamberlain, Occupational Therapist, Roobrik Deb Citrin, Senior Director, Strategy and Business Development, Philips Home Monitoring, Philips Meryl Comer, President and CEO, Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative Judy Conaway, Founder & Head of Content, Roobrik David Creal, Vice President of Franchise Support, Right at Home Jodi Daniel, Director, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Jon Dauphine, Senior Vice President, Education and Outreach, AARP Scott Dingfield, Chief Innovation Officer, Home Instead Senior Care Jim Driscoll, Strategy Consultant, Epitome Group Ken Fang, CEO, Mobomo Jody Gastfriend, Vice President, Senior Care, Care.com
Carrie Gladstone, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Advancement office, Georgetown University Jennie Chin Hansen, Recent CEO, American Geriatrics Society Drew Holzapfel, Managing Director, High Lantern Group Gail Hunt, Executive Director, National Alliance for Caregiving Kathleen Kelly, Executive Director, Family Caregiver Alliance Jacquelyn Kung, Expert/Consultant, Co-Founder, ClearCare Zachary Lamm, Senior Lead, Research and Narratology, Epitome Group Carol Levine, Director, Families and Health Care Project, United Hospital Fund David Lindeman, Director, Center for Aging and Technology, University of California Center for Information Technology Liddy Manson, President, BeClose Ladan Manteghi, Executive Director, Global Social Enterprise Initiative, Georgetown University Kenneth Matos, Senior Director, Employment Research & Practice, Families & Work Institute
Bill Novelli, Founder, Global Social Enterprise Initiative & Professor of Practice, Georgetown University Kimberly O’Loughlin, General Manager of Philips Home Monitoring, Philips Ashley Predith, Assistant Executive Director, President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology, Executive Office of the President Lou Pugliese, President, EvolvED Global John Schall, CEO, Caregiver Action Network Palak Shah, Social Innovations Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance David Shoultz, Senior Director, Federal Government Relations and Policy, Philips Mark Stephenson, Head of Brand Communications and Digital for North America, Philips Art Stevens, Director of Social Innovation Projects, PayPal Paul Tang, Internist and Vice President, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Ed Van Siclen, Vice President, Business Development, ClearCare C. Grace Whiting, Director, Communications and Coalitions, National Alliance for Caregiving Kamili Wilson, Vice President, Isolation Impact Strategies, AARP
