Study on communication support for employees with ICT in elderly care

Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Robotic Technology (RT) are considered as important elements to make elderly-care sustainable. However, the development of these technologies and installation into elderly care services are not straightforward exercises. The issue becomes more difficult if one wants to apply these technologies to different countries, as differences in care practices, policies and cultures could hinder the acceptance. To overcome these issues, the analysis of elderly care from the service system perspective is a promising approach. As part of "Meaningful Technology for Seniors: Safety, Comfort and Joy (METESE) - Models of Digital and Human Networks," a Japanese-Finnish collaborative project, this paper reports preliminary results on testing the acceptance of an SNS (Social Networking System) style information / knowledge sharing system for elderly care facilities in Japan and Finland