TY - JOUR
T1 - Network-Based Approaches for Evaluating Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Technologies
AU - Gomersall, Timothy
AU - Nygård, Louise
AU - Mihailidis, Alex
AU - Sixsmith, Andrew
AU - Hwang, Amy
AU - Hedman, Annicka
AU - Astelle, Arlene
PY - 2017/4/18
Y1 - 2017/4/18
N2 - Ambient assisted living technologies could support people experiencing physical or cognitive challenges, to maintain social identities and complex activities of daily living. Although there has been substantial investment in developing ambient assisted living innovation, less effort has been devoted to understanding how to evaluate the impact of ambient assisted living on physical and mental health. Taking a theory-based evaluation approach, we suggest firstly that ambient assisted living technologies rely on networks of people and organizations to function, and secondly, analysing the changing structure of networks can bridge the gap between socio-technological change and individual-level capabilities. We present conceptual arguments for taking a network perspective in ambient assisted living evaluations, illustrated with examples from our own group’s work on technology use among older people with cognitive impairments. We then discuss the different types of network-based evaluation approaches available, their theoretical assumptions, and the sort of research questions they could address.
AB - Ambient assisted living technologies could support people experiencing physical or cognitive challenges, to maintain social identities and complex activities of daily living. Although there has been substantial investment in developing ambient assisted living innovation, less effort has been devoted to understanding how to evaluate the impact of ambient assisted living on physical and mental health. Taking a theory-based evaluation approach, we suggest firstly that ambient assisted living technologies rely on networks of people and organizations to function, and secondly, analysing the changing structure of networks can bridge the gap between socio-technological change and individual-level capabilities. We present conceptual arguments for taking a network perspective in ambient assisted living evaluations, illustrated with examples from our own group’s work on technology use among older people with cognitive impairments. We then discuss the different types of network-based evaluation approaches available, their theoretical assumptions, and the sort of research questions they could address.
KW - Active assisted living
KW - Actor-network theory
KW - Ambient assisted living
KW - Information and communication technology
KW - Realist evaluation
KW - Social network analysis
KW - Strong structuration theory
KW - Theory-based evaluation
UR - https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/evaluation#description
U2 - 10.1177/1356389017697615
DO - 10.1177/1356389017697615
M3 - Article
VL - 23
SP - 192
EP - 208
JO - Evaluation
JF - Evaluation
SN - 1356-3890
IS - 2
ER -