Elderly people at home: technological help in everyday activities

The aim of this paper is to understand to what extent elderly people are likely to accept a technological aid in performing everyday activities. In this perspective, the present research focused on elderly people´s strategies in performing everyday activities at home, in order to understand in what domestic domains technology can be considered an acceptable help. We administered a questionnaire focusing on preferred strategies in carrying out common domestic tasks, and on attitudes towards new technologies and home modification to a sample of 123 elderly people living in Rome. Results show that the adoption of a strategy, including the introduction of technological devices, is highly problem-specific, while personal factors are relevant only in particular situations. With increasing age, people are more inclined to give up, and higher educational levels correspond to more frequent technological solutions.