Care technologies for ageing societies: An international comparison. By K.Hamblin, and M.Lariviere (Eds.), Bristol: Policy Press. 2023. pp. 174. GBP 47.99 (hbk). ISBN: 978‐1447364801

Imagining sustainable mechanisms to care for older adults is at the forefront of the work of a number of government, healthcare, academic and community organisations. This work is driven by changing family compositions, longer life expectancies, increasingly geographically dispersed family members and a growing expectation that older adults will age in place (i.e. living in one’s home for as long as possible, avoiding costly relocation to institutional care). Technological devices and interventions are increasingly called upon as pivotal tools to ameliorate what is being touted as a ‘global care crisis’. With an aim to ‘examine the role of technology within … varied systems of care provision that all face similar pressures around their sustainability’ (p. 2), this edited collection focuses its chapters on five countries (England, Australia, Germany, Canada and Japan) to examine how these countries, each with different policy contexts, are taking up technologies in their care relationships, arrangements and services. As a part of Bristol University’s Policy Press ‘Shorts’ collection, this edited collection is a quick read, coming in at 157 pages. Of note, this collection is also available to be read as Open Access, making it freely and permanently available online. The introductory chapter outlines key concepts (though, surprisingly, the technology as a concept section is theory-light and may have benefitted from a brief integration of Science and Technology Studies), the countries under comparison, as well as the book’s structure. Here, the editors are quick to highlight the challenges of cross-national policy and practice comparisons, drawing on Sartori’s (1970) notion of concept stretching. The chapters then move from England, to Australia, to Germany, to Canada and then to Japan, with scholars from each of those countries using statistics, figures, tables and charts to outline the historical, political, social and/or economic conditions that have brought about the current (and growing) need for technologies to provide care in their country. Authors then, depending on the country’s context, discuss country-specific laws and policies that are shaping the integration of technology, the research programmes that are assessing different technological devices in practice, as well as the challenges that linger (e.g. care worker shortages, fragmented care delivery and the impact of COVID). Perhaps as a result of the editors’ care to ensure that ‘conceptualisation [is] done with care to combat conceptual vagueness [or] inconsistency across contexts’ (p. 3), each chapter is differently organised and reads as a standalone unit. Care is differently conceptualised in each chapter—both in practice, in the individuals involved and in context. Some chapters focus predominantly on issues related to long-term care (Japan and Germany), others to care in the home (Australia and Canada) or a combination thereof (England). Some chapters highlight the role of family care providers, and others on paid care workers. Helpfully, the editors use the concluding chapter to summarise the main issues highlighted in each country, bringing together and highlighting key areas of convergence and divergence among the five countries, and propose a series of recommendations for policy makers, practitioners and researchers. Authors offer critiques of their countries’ current care contexts, including the lengthy wait times to access suitable and personalised care, data governance issues or the geographic terrain making technology delivery or access difficult. That said, given the book’s focus, I was troubled by a seeming lack of questioning the underlying premise of this collection, that is, that technologies are necessarily the (only) solution to our ongoing ‘care crisis’. I was waiting for a critical conversation about the prevailing interventionist agenda, that is the conceptualisation of ageing as the target for technological design, with technological intervention framed as an inherent good (Neven & Peine, 2017; Peine & Neven, 2021). Similarly, there was no mention of the broader socio-gerontechnology field (see, e.g. Peine et al.’s (2021) recent edited volume) that can support readers to critique the prevailing ageing and innovation discourse, whereby ageing populations (and ‘alarming’ demographic projections) are presented as a cause for crisis, with technologies positioned as being able to alleviate or fix this crisis and older adults pressured (in both explicit and implicit ways) into ‘responsibly’ adopting these technological devices to age well. Overall, this book provides a helpful overview to the policy, legislative and social contexts that are shaping the integration of technology in care contexts in five countries. Key policy documents, political decisions and legislation as well as notable research studies and grants are highlighted throughout each chapter, making this a collection that can be helpful and suitable for a range of audience members, including those in government, industry, care provision and academia.

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