Carers using assistive technology in dementia care at home: a mixed methods study
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Sriram, Vimal
Jenkinson, Crispin
Peters, Michele
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Informal carers support persons with dementia to live at home, even with deteriorating physical, social and cognitive issues. This study aims to examine the experiences and impact of Assistive Technology (AT) on carers, providing care for a person with dementia. METHODS: This is an explanatory sequential mixed methods study. The quantitative phase was an online and postal survey using the Carers Assistive Technology Experience Questionnaire and Short Form-12 (SF-12) questionnaire, with carers of persons with dementia in the UK, who used AT. The qualitative phase involved in-depth telephone interviews with a purposive sample of survey respondents and was analysed using hermeneutic phenomenology to develop, compare and explain the findings of the survey. RESULTS: The survey included data from 201 carers. Smartphones (45.5%) and tablet computers (45.0%) were the most frequently used AT. Multiple AT were used in the care of persons with dementia predominantly for safety (78.5%), communication (66.0%), and reminders (62.5%). The SF-12 indicated that carers in the 46-65 age group and carers who were not extremely satisfied with AT had lower mental component scores whilst carers who lived with the person with dementia and older carers had lower physical component scores. Twenty-three carers participated in the interviews, and 5 themes with 14 sub-themes were identified. The interviews helped confirm data from the survey on the impact of AT on the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the carers. It helped describe reasons for satisfaction with AT; how AT was used in daily life and strengthened caring relationships and how wider support systems enhanced the care of a person with dementia using AT. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes the use of AT in the real-world context. AT supplements the care provided to people with dementia in the community. Appropriate use, access to AT and abilities of the carer can enhance the support provided through AT to both carers and the person with dementia.
Date Issued
2022-06-08
Date Acceptance
2022-05-23
Citation
BMC Geriatrics, 2022, 22
ISSN
1471-2318
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
BMC Geriatrics
Volume
22
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35672662
Subjects
Caregivers
Communication
Dementia
Humans
Self-Help Devices
Surveys and Questionnaires
Assistive Technology
Carers
Dementia
Mixed methods
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
490
Date Publish Online
2022-06-08