Eeffective use of gerontechnology in the process of care: A qualitative study related to perceptions of caregivers

Aging and old age have been influential on a global dimension as one of the most important social events of the last century. Turkey is not outside of this aging trend and become in this process is one of the world's fastest living countries. Due to personal and structural factors in the life course such as gender, age, education, poverty, the frequency of illness, disability and dependency among the elderly has increased. The issue of care hold many issues on the agenda for both the caregiver and the care-recipient in terms of physical, psychological, social and economic sense. Technology is settled to a critical point in the solution of these problems. In this context, gerontological studies gain importance in the solution of problems and increase of quality of care. This qualitative study, incorporated interviews focused on caregivers' awareness of gerontechnology, integration and effective use of gerontechnology in care processes, the present gerontological infrastructure and the care giving perspective in the context of the advantages and disadvantages of actors involved in the maintenance of these products. Within the scope of the study, 30 participants with informal and formal care were interviewed and 73,3% of the participants were women. Some 93,3% of caregivers were found to have a health problem related to at least one chronic, physical or mental disorder. In addition, 86,7% of health problems were related to the care role they undertaken. Although all caregivers thought that gerontechnologic products would provide solutions to many problems they experienced, they were found not to be utilized effectively. The main causes of this composed of ignorance, low socioeconomic status and inadequacy of purchasing power, physical inadequacy of the care environment and inequality in accessibility to products. Within the scope of the study it has been seen that the inability to integrate gerontechnology into the maintenance processes could be a new type of violence, abuse and neglect. This topic, which has never been mentioned in the care literature, will takes it's place with the concept of gerontechnologic deprivation in aging and old age studies in the coming years. Keywords: Care Dependency, Caregiver, Gerontechnology, Gerontechnologic Deprivation