International Journal of Healthcare Sciences ISSN 2348-5728 (Online) Vol. 9, Issue 1, pp: (60-70), Month: April 2021 - September 2021, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
Effects of Smart Homes and the Internet–of– Things on Elderly Healthcare: an empirical study in the context of Africa 1
Samuel David Acquah Gyamerah, 2 Baozhen Dai
1
School of Management, Jiangsu University, China 301Xuefu Road, Jingkou, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, PR. China. School of Management, Jiangsu University, China 301Xuefu Road, Jingkou, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, PR. China.
2
Email ID: 1 samdave707@gmail.com, 2 hixiaodai@126.com
Abstract: Globally, the recent advancement in the internet- of- things (loT), and smart home services in healthcare offered crucial advancement in elderly remote monitoring. This study widened the scope of UTAUT-unified theory of acceptance and use of technology framework, and make an addition of perceived trust as an external factor to the model. This scholarship examined the motivational factors behind the acceptance of IoT and smarthomes services /solution in African countries. Data was collected from April 2019 to June 2019, on a large scale from several countries of Africa. The valid response analyzed by using structural equation modelling. The finding of the study involves a significant effect used variables (i.e., social influence, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, and perceived trust) on elderly intention. More specifically, the insignificant positive relationship found among facilitating conditions and behavioural intention. This study assists the executives of IoT and smarthomes, healthcare services/solution providers, in building strategies, and the behaviour of the elderly towards the purchase of offerings. Also, this work offered the groundwork to investigate the process of acceptation of IoT and smart- home service s/solution s for healthcare by old age people. Keywords: smart- homes services, healthcare services, internet- of- things (loT).
1. INTRODUCTION It is a general phenomenon, due to ageing and growing populations, higher prevalence of chronic the necessity for medical support also grows, which may lead to unexpected frequently visits to the doctors. Based on the approximation for a demographic growth, lifespan is anticipated to an increase in populace ageing (Astaras et al. 2015). The usual "socio -economic conditions " upset the global demographics of elderly (Malwade et al. 2018). The recent improvements in the internet-o f- things (loT) technology and more advanced tools can lead to an establishing appropriate healthcare system for the old people (Pal et al. 2018). In most of the African nations, "severe pressure on the public healthcare sector and lack of adequate facilities are driving how health services delivered to the patients" (MacGregor et al.2018). There is a growing trend from the "once physician-centered environment to a more patient-centric healthcare system" (Faralhani et al. 20 I 8). Too, smart- homes, which assimilate health and other ambient assisted living tools/technologies, can play a significant role in modernizing the approach in which healthcare amenities offered to the older people (Majllmder et al. 20 I 7). Globally, health care expenditures are continuously growing projected to rise at an annual rate of 5.4%, between 2017 to 2022, which is approximately $7.724 trillion to $10.059 trillion (Deloitte 20 I 9). Indeed, "the emergence of personalized medicine, increased use of exponential technologies, entry of disruptive and non- trait to competitors, the demand for expanded care delivery sites, and revamped payment and public funding models are all impacting the financial performance of the health care ecosystem." Interestingly, as per (MWA 2019) report the average life of people in Nigeria is 52 years, Ghana 61 years, and South Africa 57 years. Besides, according to facts and figure (Nsiah-Asare 2017), on average healthcare expenditure as percentage to GDP in African countries are 5.6%, especially in Ghana is 5.9%. Moreover, the prevalence of infectious disease shown higher. Additionally, there are several smart- homes healthcare, for instance, wearable sensors, sleep monitoring, environmental monitoring, security system, activity detection, communication network, computing, sensors and actuators, and decision. Apart from the above statistics, the healthcare industry has experienced marvelous changes in most of the developing countries due to immediate improvement in information technology (IT) and (JCT) information, and
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