Understanding the role of technology to support life transitions in residential aged care settings

Everyday practices, including technology use, by older adults can significantly change during important life transitions. However, technologies do not always match their evolving needs. This paper examines how older adults reconfigure everyday technology use when navigating major life transitions in later life. We have engaged with fifteen participants living in residential care settings for three years in weekly group activities and individual visits. Through deep and meaningful collaborations, we got to know these residents and their life circumstances closely. We created detailed narratives of the technology use experiences of five residents applying a Narrative Inquiry approach. The narratives focused on how residents adapted their technology practices and devices over time while dealing with significant changes in their everyday lives. Then, we complemented the Narrative Inquiry with a Reflexive Thematic Analysis of the data across the fifteen residents. Our findings show that older adults developed changing technology needs for two main reasons: firstly, to cope with the immediate consequences of the transitions and secondly, to improve entering the new stage of their lives by discovering or maintaining their interests through technology. We propose exploring suitable choices for technologies with older adults that provide continuity and extend their experiences with technology use during transitions. These technologies should enable positive and enriching experiences and counterbalance unsettling feelings and the struggles of change. Our research contributes an understanding of how technologies might support the life transitions of older adults in considering both their individual experiences and the role of wider social networks.