Arrangements of wash toilets and ageing bodies – an exploratory study

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to study how a specific assistive technology, namely wash toilet systems, are used and which values they enact for their users.

Materials and methods
The study is primarily based on ten semi-structured interviews conducted with older adults who were offered a wash toilet as an element in the welfare service of a large Danish municipality.

Results
The study shows how, in various ways, specific aspects of wash toilet systems are associated with specific aspects of human physiology. Essential challenges to older adults that implicate the use of wash toilet systems either relate to ’arms that cannot reach behind’, or the leakage of urine and eventually faeces. Furthermore the study shows that values enacted by wash toilet systems differ in the various arrangements, e.g., enabling social relations, being a part of something, being self-reliant or independent, preserving intimacy limits, or just ‘be pleased with’.