ESR8 - Natalie Tham An Qi

Natalie Tham An Qi
Research project
Using behavioural insights to increase older adults’ acceptance of camera-based active and assisted living technologies
About the project

Camera-based AAL technologies have been heralded as an important solution to population ageing. By leveraging state-of-the-art computer vision technologies, camera-based AAL technologies can secure greater levels of safety, health, and independence for older adults whilst benefitting their desires to age in place. However, camera-based AAL technologies face consistent and strong rejection by older adults. To date, the factors that promote or impede older adults’ acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies remain poorly understood and lack grounding in psychological theory. As such, few interventions have been developed to increase older adults’ acceptance of the technology, which may account for its lagging diffusion. This project aimed to improve older adults’ acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies through the application of behaviour change theory and techniques, with a view to facilitating greater acceptance and wider diffusion of the technology.

Start date: June 2021

End date: April 2025

Progress of the project

This research was methodologically underpinned by the experimental medicine (EM) approach, which puts forth a 4-step approach to changing behaviour. The 4 steps are as follows: (1) identify factors associated with the behavioural outcome of interest (i.e., acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies); (2) validate associations between an identified factor and the behavioural outcome; (3) engage the factor through intervention or experimental manipulation; (4) conduct a full test of the proposed model of behaviour change by examining whether the manipulations in step 3 lead to changes in the behavioural outcome by eliciting change in the identified factor. 


In line with step 1 of the EM approach to behaviour change, a scoping review identified the barriers and facilitators to older adults’ acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies. Results identified a putative barrier to acceptance—i.e., a lack of continuity or psychological connectedness to one’s future self—that qualified as a potential target for acceptance-facilitating interventions. In line with step 2 of the EM approach, a subsequent cross-sectional study examined the association between future self-continuity (operationalised as the degree to which future selves are experienced as similar to the present self, vividly imagined, and positively appraised) and older adults’ acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies. Results demonstrated positive significant associations between future self-continuity and acceptance, thus validating future self-continuity as a fruitful target for intervention. In step 3, a novel question-and-story intervention was developed to engage—i.e., increase—future self-continuity among older adults. In an online randomised controlled trial (step 4), the intervention demonstrated efficacy for increasing acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies among older adults aged below 65, specifically by increasing their felt positivity towards their future selves. 


Overall, this research contributes to an expanded understanding of strategies to increase older adults’ acceptance of camera-based AAL technologies.

Scientific publications

Using behavioural insights to increase older adults' acceptance of camera-based active and assisted living technologies: An experimental medicine approach

Natalie An Qi Tham, Anne-Marie Brady, Martina Ziefle, John Dinsmore
Using behavioural insights to increase older adults' acceptance of camera-based active and assisted living technologies: An experimental medicine approach

Proceedings of the Joint visuAAL-GoodBrother Conference on trustworthy video- and audio-based assistive technologies, 41-46. Alicante, Spain, 2024

About the ESR

Natalie holds a BSc in Psychology (2019) and an MSc in Applied Psychology and Economic Behaviour (2020), both from the University of Bath, UK. Her undergraduate and Master’s thesis examined behaviour change in the contexts of plant-based consumption and wilful ignorance, where comprehensive behavioural analyses were implemented to gain a deeper understanding of how best to facilitate the desired behaviour change.

Contact information

Natalie Tham

Trinity College Dublin

Trinity Centre for Practice & Healthcare Innovation (TCPHI)
School of Nursing and Midwifery
24 D’Olier Street
Dublin, Ireland

Email address: ntham@tcd.ie

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