Abstract

Technology has been considered an important means to deliver services in a cost-effective manner in societies that are aging and implementing austerity policies. In this article, we analyze older adults’ use of assistive technology, the picturephone, in home care by combining actor-network theory (ANT) and Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA). We also apply Foucault’s concepts of technologies of the self, regimen, and resistance. Our research materials consist of interviews with eight Northern Finnish older adults and observation data. According to our results, technological translation takes place when users associate picturephone technology with the discourses on health and safety, connectedness, and/or learning. When the technology discourse collides with or deviates from these discourses, it disrupts the technological translation, and older adults do not include the picturephone technology in their regimen, their daily life. In Finland, care policy favors technology and pursues its adoption in older adults’ care. In our case, private companies, care workers, technology advisers, family members, and older adults are recruited to join this effort. Older adults’ position in their social-material networks varies strongly in the different phases of the translation, and their technologies of the self have a significant effect on its outcome. This should be considered when designing and utilizing ICT technologies in elderly care.

摘要

技术被认为是在老龄化和实施紧缩政策的社会中以具有成本效益的方式提供服务的重要手段。在本文中，我们分析了老年人使用辅助技术、可视电话, 在家庭护理中结合行动者网络理论 (ANT) 和福柯话语分析 (FDA)。我们还应用了福柯的自我技术、养生技术和抵抗技术概念。我们的研究材料包括对八名芬兰北部老年人的采访和观察数据。根据我们的研究结果，当用户将可视电话技术与有关健康和安全、连通性和/或学习的话语联系起来时，就会发生技术转换。当技术话语与这些话语发生冲突或偏离时，它会扰乱技术翻译，老年人不会将可视电话技术纳入他们的日常生活中。在芬兰，护理政策有利于技术，并在老年人护理中寻求采用。就我们而言，私营公司、护理人员、技术顾问、家庭成员和老年人被招募加入这项工作。在翻译的不同阶段，老年人在社会物质网络中的位置差异很大，他们的自我技术对其结果有显着影响。在老年人护理中设计和利用 ICT 技术时应考虑到这一点。