Understanding the Multimodal Voice Assistant as an Informal and Social Care Support Tool in the UK

Telecare devices help deliver health and care outside of clinical settings. However, digital infrastructure modernisation in the UK could render previously relied-on telecare devices for social care obsolete. With local councils and informal carers struggling to contain social care costs and provide quality health and care, there is a need to provide technology-enabled care using updated digital infrastructure, and there is promise in using cheap and widely available voice assistants as care devices. We examine the feasibility of Amazon Echo Show as a care device for recipients of social care in the UK. Differences between the ten households in receipt of care meant that the functionality and experience of using Echo Show varied over the three months of the qualitative study, however we captured promising use cases such as direct access to carers in an emergency, despite some negative experiences like the exacerbation of cognitive limitations.