Older Adult Segmentation According to Residentially-Based Lifestyles and Analysis of Their Needs for Smart Home Functions

Abstract

Globally, the percentage of older people in the general population is growing. Smart homes have the potential to help older adults to live independently and healthy, improving their quality of life, and relieving the pressure on the healthcare and social care systems. For that, we need to understand how older adults live and their needs. Thus, this study aims to analyze the residentially-based lifestyles (RBL) of older adults and segment them to compare and analyze the real needs of smart home functions for each group. To identify a person’s RBL, a questionnaire was designed to include questions about activities at home, social events, quality of life, etc. This study surveyed 271 older Koreans. As a result of the survey on RBL, five groups with different characteristics were clustered. Finally, each groups’ features and the differences in their needs for smart home functions were compared and analyzed. The priority of needed functions for each group was found to be significantly different. In a total of 26 smart home functions, there were meaningful differences in the needs for 16 functions among the groups. This study presents the results in South Korea, according to older adults’ RBL and their smart home needs.

Global Research Trends on Smart Homes for Older Adults: Bibliometric and Scientometric Analyses

“…They are published in Environmental Science Ecology (21 publications), Architecture (5 publications), and Art (2 publications); many of them were conducted recently from 2020 to 2022. When looking at some of the studies in these areas, Yu et al (2020) categorized the residential-based lifestyle of older adults and studied each group’s diverse needs for smart home functions [ 2 ]. Kwon et al (2021) investigated the objective diagnosis method of dementia through automatic classification of early-stage dementia based on ADL data obtained in a smart home environment [ 43 ].…”

“…It is essential to focus on the “characteristics of smart home interface design and their impact on people of various ages” [ 83 ]. How people adopt smart home technology is “still an understudied area” [ 2 ].…”

“…Older adults tend to spend a longer duration of time at home, with the tendency increasing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staying most of their time at home results in older adults’ “disconnection with external assistance services” [ 2 ]; and “smart home technology is gaining more importance among this population” [ 2 ]. In addition, a decrease in the number of care providers resulting from low fertility facilitates the growth of smart home technology and industry that can contribute toward saving for care, promoting independent living of older adults, and Aging-In-Place (AIP).…”

“…Liu et al (2016) conducted a systematic literature review on the technology readiness level of older adults for supporting AIP and found that the level remains low [ 17 ]. Yu et al (2020) analyzed the residentially-based lifestyles of older adults in Korea and revealed that there are significant differences in actual needs of smart home functions by groups of different lifestyles [ 2 ].…”

Is long-term care a building or a societal moral philosophy?

“…Yu et al surveyed 271 Korean OAs assessing their smart home technology needs. 39 Based on the participant’s interest; they identified five main technology domains; safety (e.g., emergency contact, fall, gas-leak, smoke detection), healthcare-related (e.g., measure sleep and mental health, medication reminder, telehealthcare, wearable sensors), automation (e.g., heating, checked post-box, electricity), entertainment and home assists (e.g., automatic TV play function/personalized content, home assistant Robot). The study identified five clusters with various priorities of technology functions.…”