Paper presented at the British Society of Gerontology Emerging Researchers in Ageing Conference, 30 June, Newcastle.

1. “Maybe it’s because they haven’t had to rely on it,
like that day I really needed it”: exploring users’
interpretations of technologies designed to
support health and social care
Emerging Researchers in Ageing (ERA) Conference
Mark Hawker

2. So much to say and so little time …
• Theoretical framework: (structural)
symbolic interactionism, the life course
perspective and the domestication
framework (Berker et al., 2006)
• Access and recruitment: gatekeepers
• Ethical issues: competence and consent
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

3. Introduction
• We are living in an ageing
population, which continues to
grow year-on-year
• Health and social care budgets
are diminishing as part of
austerity cuts
• Increasingly, technology is seen
as a ‘solution’ to the issues of
an ageing population
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/
key-issues-for-the-new-parliament/value-for-money-in-
public-services/the-ageing-population/

4. Telecare systems
• Worn on the wrist or
around the neck
• When activated,
connects to a call
monitoring centre
• Call is then triaged by
the call monitoring
centre operator
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

5. 15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield
1932

6. 15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield
1972

7. 15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield
1977

8. 15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

9. 15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

10. 15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

11. So, what’s the ‘challenging idea’?
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

12. Research design
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield
A local telecare system SCRIPT telerehabilitation system
19 older people
Recruited via local organisations
working with older people
4 stroke survivors
Recruited via the SCRIPT project
• Document review
• Qualitative interviews
• Document review
• Qualitative interviews
• Observations of user engagement
over a period of six weeks
Theoretical reading of data Theoretical reading of data

13. What have I found?
• Shared experiences of older people that shape their identities and
the ways in which they negotiate everyday life (e.g. ‘active’ agers)
• Appropriation of telecare systems embedded within the wider
dynamics of everyday life (e.g. help and support networks)
• Multiple interpretations (or metaphors) of telecare systems
• As ‘prescriptions’
• As ‘safety nets’
• As ‘load balancers’
• As ‘currency’
• Maintenance ensures technology remains ‘active’ within everyday life
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

14. Everyday life and ageing
“Well, I’m 85. And when you get to be an octogenarian
you’re a candidate. You’re also … strokes, heart
attacks, you name it. When you get to be in your 80s,
anything can happen. And a’ve no family, a’ve no
siblings, so I’m on ma own. So a’m determined, like
many other people, to keep that, to keep it that way,
and keep independent as long as a can. And this is all
part of it, a’ll do what a can in order to be prepared.”
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

15. ‘Real world’ interpretations
‟ A’ve had it about … two year. I was ill, I was in hospital for about
eight months. And when a came out they gave me this pendant and
… I ‘ave tried it out. If I press this [button] I’ve got immediate help.
‟ Well, I got one in the first place because I live alone. And it gave me a
sense of security if anything went wrong.
‟ But I weighed it up and I thought: ‘well, I need help, and I need
somebody to get in’. [My neighbour] has a key. But, and if I rang [my
neighbour] she would come, but, [my neighbour’s] getting older, too.
I don’t feel that I ought to put that responsibility on her shoulders.
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

16. A creative use of a telecare system
‟ [I got this telecare system] as a gesture to me
son and daughter I thought I’d rather have a
[telecare system] than go and stay anywhere,
y’know. And, er, at least that satisfied them.
‟ I would’ve been in trouble if, er, [my daughter]
had come and I wasn’t wearing it! [Laughs.] I
would be in trouble.
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

17. Discussion
• Telecare systems are not just functional objects
but are also symbolic objects
• The meaning of telecare systems is constructed
and negotiated within everyday life
• Users’ agency and identities as older people
influence the extent to which they are able to
negotiate the meaning of telecare systems
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

18. Bibliography
• Berker, T., Hartmann, M., Punie, Y. and Ward, K. J., eds. (2006). Domestication of
media and technology. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
• Haddon, L. (2011). Domestication analysis, objects of study, and the centrality of
technologies in everyday life. Canadian Journal of Communication, 36(2): 311–323.
• Mackay, H. and Gillespie, G. (1992). Extending the social shaping of technology
approach: ideology and appropriation. Social Studies of Science, 22(4): 685–716.
• Oudshoorn, N. and Pinch, T., eds. (2003). How users matter: the co-construction of
users and technology. Cambridge, MA, USA: The MIT Press.
• Suchman, L. A., Blomberg, J., Orr, J. E., and Trigg, R. (1999). Reconstructing
technologies as social practice. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(3): 392–408.
• Williams, R. and Edge, D. (1996). The social shaping of technology. Research Policy,
25(6): 865–899.
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

19. QUESTIONS?
15/07/2015 © The University of Sheffield

20. “Maybe it’s because they haven’t had to rely on it,
like that day I really needed it”: exploring users’
interpretations of technologies designed to
support health and social care
Emerging Researchers in Ageing (ERA) Conference
Mark Hawker