Although fewer older adults say their homes are equipped to allow them to age in place in 2024 compared with 2023, more of them are getting comfortable with the idea of using assistive or health-related technologies to keep them living where they are, according to the results of a US News & World Report survey.
Responses to an April Pollfish survey of 1,500 adults aged 55 or more years were compared with responses collected in March 2023 from 2,000 respondents to measure changing attitudes and preparedness for aging in place.
The majority of survey participants (95%) agreed that aging in place was an important goal, up from 93% in 2023. The 2024 report took a deeper look at why older adults are — or are not — using assistive and health-related technologies, which technologies they use the most and their experiences with that technology.
Getting older (49%) is the main reason respondents cited for using assistive or health-related technologies, followed by mobility impairment (28%) and hearing impairment (22%).
Of the 47% of participants who said they didn’t use assistive or health-related technologies, 70% said they simply believed they didn’t need them yet. Another 16% said they couldn’t afford the technologies, and 14% said they rejected them because they feared losing their independence.
Devices making it easier to age in place include medical or health-related mobile apps (25%), service-related apps (24%) — such as for food delivery services — and wearables (17%). Choosing to use assistive technology was tied to ease of use (75%) and setup (50%), whether it was accessible via a mobile app (38%) and whether it was wireless (37%).
The COVID-19 pandemic brought more older adults online in an effort to stay connected with loved ones. More respondents said that using assistive or health-related technologies made them feel more independent and safer (47% in 2024 compared with 44% in 2023). The survey also showed a large increase in respondents who said they felt more mobile as a result of using assistive technologies — 32% in 2024 compared with 20% in 2023 — including mobile apps, health trackers and medical alert devices.
Although slightly more respondents (95% in 2024 compared with 93% in 2023) said that aging in places was an important goal, fewer said that their home is ready for aging in place — 50% in 2024 compared with 59% in 2023. Only 14% said that their home is completely ready for aging in place, down from 19% last year, whereas more said that their home is not ready at all — 20% in 2024 compared with 17% in 2023.
A growing number of older adults cited rising costs as the reason for not being ready to age in place; 62% cited cost in 2023 compared with 67% in 2024.