Perspectives of only children on the use of smart technologies for transnational family care

Abstract

Adult-only children who migrate face challenges to manage their caregiving responsibilities towards older parents transnationally. We investigated the opportunities and gaps of smart remote monitoring and robotic technologies to meet these family care needs of migrants permanently residing in Europe. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematically analysed. Participants currently provided minimal and by-in-large emotional care to parents living mostly in Asia, but anticipated challenges with parents’ increasing age and health issues. Studied technologies may ameliorate informational opacity, alert for emergency support, and strengthen emotional care. Participants also identified barriers that prevented these benefits to be fully realized, such as complexity, lack of maturity to practically support in emergencies, and questionable cost-effectiveness. Overall, transnational carers face heightened burdens to family care and were hopeful to integrate these new tools in their care albeit with barriers. Building on existing literature, the technologies included in our study could contribute to further legitimizing the commitment and work of transnational family carers.