Privacy, Technology, and Aging: A Proposed Framework

The purpose of this study was to develop a privacy framework that could inform the development, adoption, and use of home-based ubiquitous technologies for older adults. We began with a five-part privacy framework, derived from the literature, and tested it through a qualitative exploration of older adults’ perceptions. Focus-group sessions were conducted with 64 community-dwelling older adults. Transcriptions were analyzed using a grounded-theory approach. Major and minor coding themes were identified, refined, and expanded upon, and transcripts were then coded using these themes. Participants’ concerns about privacy were more contextualized than our previously defined framework. Factors that influenced perceptions of privacy were identified as perceived usefulness, the importance of social relationships, data granularity, and the sensitivity of activities. Elders’ perceptions of privacy relative to the development, adoption, and use of home-based ubiquitous technologies are highly contextual, individualized, and influenced by psychosocial motivations of later life. Data analysis and gerontological theory informed the expansion of our initial framework into a new framework that considers perceived usefulness, key social relationships, data granularity, and sensitivity of activities as factors relevant to the use of in-home technologies. As elders’ naïve mental models lead to a perception of risk that may be less than actual risk, technologies should enable user-centered transparent data control. Transdisciplinary theories of privacy and aging can inform the development of a privacy framework for home-based technologies that can contribute to an optimal life in old age.