Smart/Assistive Care Technology Adoption and Mental Health Among Underserved Older Adults: Equity and Policy Perspectives

Existing research has increasingly examined the potential of digital and assistive technologies to reduce loneliness, alleviate depressive and anxiety symptoms, support cognitive and emotional functioning, enhance autonomy, and improve quality of life among older adults. Nevertheless, much of the literature emphasizes technological efficacy or user acceptance within relatively advantaged populations. Less attention has been paid to older adults who face intersecting disadvantages and may be most in need of accessible care innovations.Important gaps also remain regarding how individual capabilities, family support, community environments, healthcare systems, market conditions, and public policies jointly influence technology adoption and mental health outcomes. Moreover, technology adoption is not a single event but a dynamic process involving awareness, access, acceptance, initial use, continued engagement, discontinuation, and adaptation over time. Addressing these gaps requires research that integrates psychological, social, spatial, organizational, and policy perspectives.Population aging is unfolding alongside the rapid digital transformation of health and social care systems. Smart and assistive care technologies, including smart home systems, wearable devices, telehealth platforms, artificial intelligence, social robots, remote monitoring tools, mobile health applications, and other digitally enabled care services, have considerable potential to support independence, strengthen social connectedness, facilitate aging in place, and improve mental health and well-being in later life. However, access to and adoption of these technologies remain uneven. Older adults experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, rural or remote residence, disability, frailty, limited digital literacy, social isolation, inadequate care resources, or other forms of marginalization may encounter substantial barriers to benefiting from technological innovation.This Research Topic aims to advance interdisciplinary understanding of how smart and assistive care technology adoption shapes mental health among underserved older adults. Particular attention will be given to inequalities in access, adoption, sustained use, and mental health benefits, as well as to the social, organizational, environmental, and policy conditions that may reduce or reinforce these inequalities. The collection seeks to generate evidence that informs more equitable, accessible, person-centered, and sustainable approaches to technology-enabled care and healthy aging.Topics may include, but are not limited to:- Adoption, acceptance, sustained use, and discontinuation of smart or assistive care technologies;- Smart homes, wearable devices, telehealth, artificial intelligence, social robots, mobile health, remote monitoring, and digital care platforms;- Depression, anxiety, loneliness, social isolation, psychological well-being, cognitive health, resilience, autonomy, and quality of life;- Digital literacy, affordability, accessibility, usability, trust, privacy, ethics, and technology-related stigma;- Rural–urban, socioeconomic, gender, disability, cultural, and geographic inequalities;- Family, caregiver, community, and healthcare-system influences on technology adoption;- Technology-enabled interventions and implementation in underserved communities;- Policy design, financing, regulation, reimbursement, infrastructure, and workforce development;- Cross-national, cross-cultural, longitudinal, experimental, qualitative, mixed-methods, and implementation studies.- Comparative studies involving general older populations are also encouraged when they provide clear implications for reducing inequalities and improving mental health among underserved groups. Topic editors: Jiaming Shi, Zhixin Feng, Xiaoting Liu, Mei-Chun Cheung Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85173/smartassistive-care-technology-adoption-and-mental-health-among-underserved-older-adults-equity-and-policy-perspectives