Centre for Care: Technologies That Matter, 2024-2025

This data is part of the Centre for Care research centre, under the project ‘Technologies That Matter’. It is a co-produced project, with research questions, fieldwork approach, analysis, and outputs designed with people with lived experience of care needs and supporting people with care needs. The focus of the project is on how people with experience of care use technology, exploring how technologies impact their everyday lives. Participants were people with lived experience of care or support, including health and social care, disabled people, and people with long term health conditions. The technology examined ranged from devices designed specifically for health and care, such as medication dispensers and electric wheelchairs, to ‘everyday’ devices including smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Working with our coproduction ‘Design and Methods Group’ we co-designed a longitudinal research approach. This involved three rounds of in-depth interviews with participants, and diaries to understand everyday use of technology. The first round of interviews focussed on their use of technology; the second on any changes to their technology use and reflections on the diaries; and for the third interview participants were sent extracts from their own previous interview transcripts which we discussed together. The overall research questions were: - What technologies are being used by people receiving social care to live their best lives? - How do people ‘blend together’ or ‘change’ technologies to help them produce outcomes that matter to them? - Do technologies bring new opportunities, barriers, benefits and risks, and who benefits? Who is left out? Could some people be at risk? - How do technologies affect things like family relationships, paid care, and employment? In answering these questions and carrying out fieldwork, the project aimed to co-produce research into the lived experience of technology and care, and understand if and how people who receive care and support integrate technology into their everyday lives to enhance wellbeing. A further aim has been to develop evidence that helps policymakers, practitioners, and providers move beyond generalised narratives about ‘technology and care’, towards approaches that are equitable, responsive, and grounded in lived experience. Our findings provide insight into how to effectively integrate technology into social care. This could mean policymakers and practitioners considering both specialist and everyday off-the-shelf devices in care provision, in ways that augment rather than replace care services. Other issues relate to digital exclusion, regulation of AI and data privacy, the importance of people having access to advice and recommendations relating to specific technologies, and support to understand how technologies function and potential risks. A further aim of the project is to share learning from our co-production journey. In doing so, we hope to support other researchers, organisations, and communities engaging in similar work. The Centre for Care is a collaboration between the University of Sheffield, University of Birmingham, University of Kent, University of Oxford, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Office for National Statistics, Carers UK, the National Children's Bureau and the Social Care Institute for Excellence. Working with care-sector partners and international teams, it responds to the urgent need for accessible evidence on care. Care systems and those who need or provide care face unprecedented pressures around quality, cost, unmet need, and workforce conditions. Care is closely linked to the NHS, labour markets, and policies on migration, welfare and housing. Cultural values, eligibility rules and shocks such as Covid-19 have contributed to fragmented provision and unequal outcomes, making reform widely recognised as necessary. The Centre produces evidence and insight for policymakers, organisations and the public. Its objectives are to: co-produce research with people who need or provide care to improve wellbeing; publish robust evidence on care systems, inequalities and sustainability; use and develop data to inform policy and research; support PhD students and emerging scholars; inform public debate and translate research into practice; and collaborate with UK and international research teams. The Centre studies care as support, services and protections for vulnerable or disabled people, focusing on three themes: care experiences across life stages and systems; inequalities in care and their impacts across places and time; and workforce change, including recruitment, regulation and technology. Cross-cutting work explores care as a complex ecosystem, digital care and data infrastructure, enabling integrated analysis and new insights. Its multidisciplinary team, supported by global partners, works closely with care organisations and advocacy groups to deliver impactful, accessible research aimed at improving care systems and outcomes. About this project: Technologies That Matter, part of the Centre for Care, explores how people with experience of care use technology in their everyday lives. Working with our Design and Methods Group (including people with lived experience of care and support), we co-designed a longitudinal research approach that combines in-depth interviews, diaries and creative methods. We worked with a group of people with lived experience to co-produce the research questions, focused on: - What technologies are being used by people receiving social care to live their best lives? - How do people ‘blend together’ or ‘change’ technologies to help them produce outcomes that matter to them? - Do technologies bring new opportunities, barriers, benefits and risks, and who benefits? Who is left out? Could some people be at risk? - How do technologies affect things like family relationships, paid care, and employment? Participants were people with lived experience of care or support, including health and social care, disabled people, and people with long term health conditions. The technology focussed on included devices designed specifically for health and care but also everyday devices from smartphones to ‘gadgets’ like curtain openers. Interviews and other data generation activities were completed mid-2025, and have been followed by a period of co-producing outputs.