JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

With China's population aging rapidly, elder care services face greater pressure. Digital elder care technologies are increasingly seen as a way to improve efficiency and support better care, but many difficulties remain in everyday practice. Staff in elder care institutions play an important part in using and promoting these technologies, yet research that focuses specifically on their concerns about technology use is still limited.

Objective:

This study aimed to explore staff concerns about using digital elder care technologies and to provide evidence for improving and promoting these technologies.

Methods:

We used a qualitative descriptive design. Between December 2025 and February 2026, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 staff members from 7 elder care institutions in Changsha, China, who were recruited through purposive sampling. We analyzed the data thematically using Braun and Clarke's 6-phase reflexive framework.

Results:

Five themes were identified: concerns about insufficient technological fit and application support, concerns about cost investment and operational burden, concerns about safety safeguards and responsibility governance, concerns about humanistic care and the situation of the parties involved, and positive appraisals and future expectations. These findings suggest that staff in elder care institutions have concerns about the technologies themselves, institutional operations, risk governance, relationships, and lived circumstances. At the same time, they generally remain positive about these technologies and expect further improvements so that they better align with actual elder care settings.

Conclusions:

Digital elder care technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the development of elder care services. Although they show considerable potential for older adults' health management and care, the findings indicate that opportunities and challenges exist at the same time, and staff in elder care institutions continue to have multiple concerns about these technologies. Wider and more sustainable use will require closer technological fit, better support for use and risk protection, and greater attention to costs. It will also require stronger digital literacy and acceptance among both care providers and care recipients, while keeping an appropriate balance between humanistic care and technology use.