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Background: The integration of stakeholders is crucial in developing smart living technologies to support the autonomy of elderly populations. Despite the clear benefits of these technologies, there remains a significant gap in comprehensive research. Methods: This study presents the viewpoints of 19 stakeholders from Europe and Japan, focusing on the sustainability of smart living solutions for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). Data were gathered through qualitative semi-structured interviews and analysed using a Framework Analysis approach. Results: Analysis of the interviews revealed six key sustainability categories: addressing the unmet needs of older adults, functionalities of the smart living coach, integration within organizations, identified barriers, financial considerations, and the social role of the smart living coach. Conclusions: This research underscores the importance of evaluating user needs through the involvement of various stakeholders, including the elderly, their caregivers, professionals, technicians, service providers, and government bodies. Collaborative efforts are essential to generate new evidence demonstrating the value of smart living solutions in facilitating Active and Healthy Ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The increasing older population and demographic shifts highlight the need to understand the digital profiles of older adults, a pivotal factor in developing innovative technologies like the e-VITA virtual coach. This personalized coach provides recommendations for sustainable well-being in a smart home environment. (2) Methods: This study focuses on analyzing the characteristics of older individuals categorized as Internet users (onliners) and non-users (offliners). European Social Survey data from 2021 were utilized for European analysis, determining Internet usage based on frequency. Offliners are defined as users who never use the Internet, and onliners as those who use it, albeit with different frequencies. In Japan, data from the 9th International Comparative Survey on the Lives and Attitudes of the Elderly were employed, based on the responses of 1367 subjects, which defined onliners as individuals using communication devices and offliners as those not utilizing fax machines, cell phones, or the Internet. (3) Results: This paper presents a primary analysis of older end-user context and perspectives, outlining effective strategies for the diffusion of an active and healthy aging coaching system in the market and society. (4) Conclusions: the study emphasizes the importance of analyzing digital behavior in any user-centered design approach to ensure the system's acceptance after deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The worldwide aging trend requires conceptually new prevention, care, and innovative living solutions to support human-based care using smart technology, and this concerns the whole world. Enabling access to active and healthy aging through personalized digital coaching services like physical activity coaching, cognitive training, emotional well-being, and social connection for older adults in real life could offer valuable advantages to both individuals and societies. A starting point might be the analysis of the perspectives of different professionals (eg, geriatricians) on such technologies. The perspectives of experts in the sector may allow the individualization of areas of improvement of clinical interventions, supporting the positive perspective pointed out by the intrinsic capacity framework., Objective: The overall aim of this study was to explore the cross-national perspectives and experiences of different professionals in the field of intrinsic capacity, and how it can be supported by eHealth interventions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore geriatric care providers' perspectives about technology-based interventions to support intrinsic capacity., Methods: A survey involving 20 geriatricians or clinical experts in the fields of intrinsic capacity and active and healthy aging was conducted in Italy, France, Germany, and Japan between August and September 2021., Results: The qualitative findings pointed out relevant domains for eHealth interventions and provided examples for successful practices that support subjective well-being under the intrinsic capacity framework (the benefits offered by personalized interventions, especially by promoting health literacy but avoiding intrusiveness). Moreover, eHealth interventions could be used as a bridge that facilitates and enables social engagement; an instrument that facilitates communication between doctors and patients; and a tool to enrich the monitoring actions of medical staff., Conclusions: There is an unexplored and significant role for such geriatric perspectives to help the development process and evaluate the evidence-based results on the effectiveness of technologies for older people. This is possible only when clinicians collaborate with data scientists, engineers, and developers in order to match the complex daily needs of older adults., (©Vera Stara, Luca Soraci, Eiko Takano, Izumi Kondo, Johanna Möller, Elvira Maranesi, Riccardo Luzi, Giovanni Renato Riccardi, Ryan Browne, Sébastien Dacunha, Cecilia Palmier, Rainer Wieching, Toshimi Ogawa, Roberta Bevilacqua. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 12.10.2023.)