The Impact of Smart Elderly Care Technology on Older Adults' Sense of Self-Control and Social Connectedness: An Empirical Analysis Based on the Empowerment Theory and Technology Acceptance Model

To explore the internal path through which smart elderly care technology influences older adults' sense of self-control and social connectedness, and to provide empirical evidence and theoretical support for optimizing the smart elderly care service system and enhancing older adults' psychological well-being, this study integrated the Empowerment Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A cluster sampling method was adopted to conduct a questionnaire survey among 1,031 older adults in communities in Jiangsu, Shandong and other provinces in China. A structural equation model was constructed, and Bootstrap method, multi-group analysis and other approaches were used to test the research hypotheses. The results showed that the use of smart elderly care technology significantly and positively improved older adults' sense of self-control through the empowerment effect (β=0.382, p< 0.01) and technology acceptance (β=0.415, p< 0.01), and significantly enhanced their social connectedness through the construction of social support networks (β=0.363, p< 0.01). Empowerment played a partial mediating role between the use of smart elderly care technology and sense of self-control, with the mediating effect accounting for 38.2%. Technology acceptance exerted a partial mediating effect between the use of smart elderly care technology and social connectedness, with the mediating effect accounting for 40.1%. Technology acceptance also played a partial mediating role between empowerment and sense of self-control, and there was a significant interaction effect between empowerment and technology acceptance, which jointly and positively affected older adults' sense of self-control (β=0.103, p< 0.05) and social connectedness (β=0.087, p< 0.05). This study verified the chain mechanism of "technological empowerment - psychological acceptance - social integration" of smart elderly care technology. It is suggested to construct an optimized path for smart elderly care services with the core concepts of "digital inclusion" and "relational empowerment", and promote the in-depth integration of technological empowerment, humanistic care and traditional Chinese medicine health management.