Abstract
As global populations age, informal caregiving by family and community members plays an increasingly vital role in supporting older adults. This paper investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) can foster socio-emotional connectedness among older adults, informal caregivers, and their broader social networks. We conducted a two-phase ethnographic study with older adult–caregiver pairs in their home environments. Phase one employed contextual inquiry to explore social-emotional dynamics, relational boundaries, and caregiving challenges. Phase two used metaphor-driven probes to examine AI’s potential to mediate emotional connectedness and address relational barriers. Our findings reveal a deep yearning among older adults for emotional connectedness, alongside nuanced boundaries that both caregivers and older adults strive to maintain. Two key barriers—availability asymmetry and affordance asymmetry—were found to hinder meaningful connection. To bridge these gaps, we propose three mediating roles for AI: (1) providing visibility to affirm attentiveness, (2) prompting self-reflection to enhance emotional awareness, and (3) externalizing transient emotions to facilitate interpersonal dialogue. Building on these insights, we introduce a relational design framework composed of three interwoven layers—Mode of Care, Rhythm of Experience, and Relational Network Model—as an alternative to the predominantly functional paradigms that currently guide caregiving technology design. We argue that AI should be envisioned not merely as a tool for utilitarian assistance but as an active socio-emotional mediator capable of cultivating emotionally embodied care experiences, fostering slow-presence interactions, and nurturing relational connectedness within caregiving ecosystems.
Keywords
Human-Centered AI; Relational Design; Metaphor-Driven Ethnography; Informal Older Adult Caregiving
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.898
Citation
Wang, L.R.,and Leigh, S.(2025) Beyond Functional Support: Rethinking AI for Social-Emotional Connectedness in Informal Older Adult Caregiving, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.898
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 4 - Human-Centered AI
Beyond Functional Support: Rethinking AI for Social-Emotional Connectedness in Informal Older Adult Caregiving
As global populations age, informal caregiving by family and community members plays an increasingly vital role in supporting older adults. This paper investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) can foster socio-emotional connectedness among older adults, informal caregivers, and their broader social networks. We conducted a two-phase ethnographic study with older adult–caregiver pairs in their home environments. Phase one employed contextual inquiry to explore social-emotional dynamics, relational boundaries, and caregiving challenges. Phase two used metaphor-driven probes to examine AI’s potential to mediate emotional connectedness and address relational barriers. Our findings reveal a deep yearning among older adults for emotional connectedness, alongside nuanced boundaries that both caregivers and older adults strive to maintain. Two key barriers—availability asymmetry and affordance asymmetry—were found to hinder meaningful connection. To bridge these gaps, we propose three mediating roles for AI: (1) providing visibility to affirm attentiveness, (2) prompting self-reflection to enhance emotional awareness, and (3) externalizing transient emotions to facilitate interpersonal dialogue. Building on these insights, we introduce a relational design framework composed of three interwoven layers—Mode of Care, Rhythm of Experience, and Relational Network Model—as an alternative to the predominantly functional paradigms that currently guide caregiving technology design. We argue that AI should be envisioned not merely as a tool for utilitarian assistance but as an active socio-emotional mediator capable of cultivating emotionally embodied care experiences, fostering slow-presence interactions, and nurturing relational connectedness within caregiving ecosystems.