Experiences of QoL in Relation to Smart "Age-Friendly" Communities in China
The construction of smart age-friendly communities can significantly improve the quality of life (QoL) of the elderly. For this study, the smartness of China's age-friendly communities was selected as a topic and divided into four dimensions based on the concept of a smart agefriendly ecosystem: smart aging platforms, smart aging products, smart aging services, and smart technology training for the elderly. Subsequently, 11 representative cases published by China's National Development and Reform Commission that highlight the implementation of smart aging services in the community were selected for the study. The thematic analysis method was then applied to explain the intrinsic association between the construction of smart age-friendly communities and the change in QoL of the elderly. According to the findings of this study, smart eldercare platforms, smart eldercare products, smart eldercare services, and smart technology training enhanced the QoL of the elderly in 46 different dimensions. Furthermore, the study revealed that smart age-friendly communities primarily focused on promoting the physical and environmental QoL of the elderly; however, their focus on promoting social and psychological QoL was not significant. The conclusion drawn from the study was that elevating the smartness level of age-friendly communities was crucial to improving the QoL of the elderly.
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