The consequences of an aging society pose one of the major challenges of our time. Technology solutions that alleviate the strain on the overburdened healthcare system can effectively support individuals needing assistance. Still, technology acceptance is a crucial variable in understanding what drives users to utilize such applications. This study examined the role of trust and privacy in the accepted use of ambient technologies for health-related purposes. Using an online survey we collected data from N = 102 respondents. Findings revealed that participants are willing to use ambient technology for health. Benefits and barriers are traded off, whereby the advantages outweigh the perceived barriers. Trust conditions to be fulfilled include data security, technical soundness, and health-related aspects. Having control over personal information results as the most important privacy aspect, followed by the supervision of social contacts. Regression analyses revealed perceived motives and barriers, technical soundness, and health-related trust to be significant predictors of acceptance.

Addressing demographic change, assistive technologies are developed to support people in need of care. So far, little is known about the impact of context-related individual perceptions on the adoption of such technologies. The present study investigates the extent of relationships between (a) aging-, care-, and health-related perceptions and (b) the perception and acceptance of using assistive technologies. In an online survey (N = 1123), the participants assessed individual perceptions of aging, care, health, perceived benefits, barriers, and acceptance of an assistive system. Using structural equation modeling the relationships between individual attitudes and acceptance were investigated. Results revealed that perceptions of care were related to acceptance, perceived barriers, and benefits. Positive perceptions of aging were related to perceived benefits and care. Moreover, perceived vitality correlated with perceptions of aging and perceived benefits. The study provided insights into individual perceptions of aging, care, and health as well as their relationships with assistive technology’s acceptance.

An aging society characterized by rising numbers of people in need of assistance and care poses tremendous challenges for care services, hospitals, families, and the whole society. Using assisting technologies represents a potential support and relief for aged individuals, people in need of care, and their caregivers. Despite their advantages, existing concerns and barriers regarding these technologies (e.g., data security, privacy) impede the user’s acceptance. Beyond that, acceptance and the perception of technology-related benefits and barriers depend on the diversity of the future users: e.g., their cultural background as well as attitudes toward aging and care. Applying an online questionnaire, this article aims at an exemplary comparison of Turkish and German participants’ perceptions and acceptance of using lifelogging cameras as technical application. This study investigates how participants of the two countries handle and evaluate the topics aging and care, and to what extent these attitudes are connected with the perception and acceptance of assisting technologies. Findings revealed significant differences between Turkish and German participants’ attitudes, their perceptions of benefits and barriers as well as acceptance of lifelogging cameras. The results indicated that assisting technologies have to be tailored specifically to the respective users.

Increasing numbers of older individuals in the societies pose great challenges for countries affected by the demographic change. The rapid development in the technological sector, on the other hand, enables various applications to make everyday life easier for older and disabled people and to maintain their autonomy for longer. This study examines the acceptance and privacy perceptions of a video-based technology for lifelogging in home environments among German and Turkish users, using a multi-method empirical research approach. Results expose an overall differing acceptance of using lifelogging cameras between German and Turkish participants and suggest that the consideration of the varying culture-bound demands is necessary. The findings of this study support the understanding of requirements for a successful implementation of a video-based assistive technology in private environments to optimally address the needs of the future users, drawing attention to the important cultural influences that affect its acceptance.

Lifelogging technologies have the potential to facilitate and enrich the everyday life of younger as well as older people. On the one hand, tracking and logging of data about activities and behavior support an active lifestyle. On the other hand, tracking medical data and movements support increasing safety by detecting, e.g., emer-gencies or falls. From a technical perspective, a variety of technologies enable lifelogging and are already available on the market. Instead, there is very little knowledge about the perception and acceptance of lifelog-ging technologies from users’ socio-ethical perspective. Hence, this paper presents research results from four online survey studies (n = 1107) aiming at covering a broad range of lifelogging applications and reaching di-verse target groups. Being based on insights gathered from the quantitative data collection, this paper derives guidelines for integrating ethical and social perspectives in lifelogging technology development and emphasiz-es gaps within the research landscape regarding its perception and acceptance.

Shifts in demographic developments have led to changed needs and requirements in healthcare.Rising life expectancy and improved medical healthcare enable a more independent and healthier lifestyle of (older) persons, but also changes expectations and perceptions of aging, and health-supporting technologies.Knowledge about attitudes towards aging, medical assistive technologies, and impacting user factors (especially age and health status) is limited with regard to a broad sample of participants.In the present study (N=585), we therefore examined in an online-survey current attitudes towards aging and quality of life in older age, as well as perceptions and acceptance of health-supporting technologies, taking age and health status as user factors into account.Results revealed significant effects of age and health condition on the perception of life quality in older age.In addition, positive perceptions of aging, technology acceptance, as well as benefits and barriers were significantly influenced by the respondents' age.In contrast, health status significantly affected the negative perceptions of aging.Under impacts of age and health condition as user factors, results of the study allow a deeper understanding of changing patterns of perceived aging and prevailing opinions regarding acceptance of medical technology.