Abstract:
The topic for this Research was prompted by the findings of previous research carried out by the UCC CARL (Community Academic Research Links) project which recommended some key areas for further research, of which ‘Technology and the Elderly’ was one. Following the success of the CARL project’s use of research volunteers from the Westgate Foundation in Ballincollig, a similar research group was used to interrogate this particular topic (University College Cork, 2017). Westgate Foundation is a community based organisation providing an integrated range of services for older people including daycare, community catering, sheltered housing, transport, social and active retired club, social work and counselling (www.westgatefoundation,ie, 2017). Westgate’s broad cross section of users represent the high degree of heterogeneity that exist within this age group and therefore includes those who have had experience of using technology in their working or personal lives and those who have had none. This research explored the impact of, level of engagement with, the usefulness, advantages and obstacles presented by technology as we age.
