“How do you care for technology?” – Care professionals' experiences with assistive technology in care of the elderly

The needs of elderly people and their relatives, as well as the problems they face in using assistive technology, are taken into account to some extend when such devices are designed. However, another important group is overlooked in most of the research and technical development: care professionals. They use assistive devices every day. To consider them as users and facilitators of assistive technology has become even more important, since new capacities of technology and comprehensive visions of robotics have started to change the relation between care workers and technology significantly. In Berlin, Germany, we conducted a series of qualitative interviews with care professionals who work in care services or advise on technical aids for the elderly. Our main focus was on the experiences of the care professionals with assistive technology: on the kind of assistive technology they use, the benefits and difficulties they experience using technology, the visions they have etc. We found out that care professionals perceived technology to be in competition with important aspects of care. The results reflect the changing relation between care workers and assistive technology.