The elderly and a remote home care: The case of slovenia

Abstract

Due to increasing ageing, western countries are facing an increase in financial needs to provide suitable healthcare, social care and housing for the elderly. One of society's responses to these issues is the idea of moving elder-care activities to their living environments. This can be achieved with the help of information and communication technologies (ICT) by which home care could be provided remotely. However, the findings of various authors suggest that elderly people have mostly negative attitudes towards a remote home care. In order to determine the views of the elderly towards this service in Slovenia, a survey was conducted, the results of which are discussed in this article. Contrary to our assumption, it turned out that elderly people have positive attitudes towards remote home care. This was attributed to effectively informing respondents and increasing their understanding of the operation and usability of the service. Raising the awareness of potential users is therefore crucial for its acceptance in a society.