노인단독가구 거주자의 유비쿼터스 홈 서비스 요구도 - 가전제품 및 가구를 중심으로 -

Needs for Ubiquitous Home Services by the Elderly Household without Children - Focused on Home Electronic Appliances and Furniture -

The purposes of this study were to identify the needs for ubiquitous home services in residential environment of elderly single or elderly couple households living without children and also to analyze the differences of the needs according to their demographic and housing characteristics. For this study, a literature review and field works on ubiquitous home services for older people were performed. Also, 1 to 1 interview by using the questionnaire which was developed by the researchers in this study was conducted and 270 elderly residents in Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do were responded. Seventy-one ubiquitous service items which were adopted to home electronic appliances and furniture for older people were developed for 1 to 1 interview questionnaire. The major findings of the study were as follows: the elderly residents expressed highest need for ubiquitous home service items related to safety and health issues. Among ubiquitous service items applied to gas stove, vacuum cleaner, TV, telephone, sofa and toilet, the items related to safety and health aspects were most needed. And residents' income level and health status were the two major variables to show group differences in the need of ubiquitous home services. In other words, the elderly residents who were high income and frail tended to have the highest demand for ubiquitous home services adopted to home electronic appliances and furniture.