Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T22:26:13.204Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New networked technologies and carers of people with dementia: an interview study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2010

JOHN POWELL ,
LEE GUNN ,
PAM LOWE ,
BART SHEEHAN ,
FRANCES GRIFFITHS  and
AILEEN CLARKE
JOHN POWELL*
Affiliation:
Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK.
LEE GUNN
Affiliation:
Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK.
PAM LOWE
Affiliation:
Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
BART SHEEHAN
Affiliation:
Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK.
FRANCES GRIFFITHS
Affiliation:
Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK.
AILEEN CLARKE
Affiliation:
Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: John Powell, Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Warwick Medical School Building, Gibbet Hill Road, CoventryCV4 7AL, UK E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Dementia is one of the greatest contemporary health and social care challenges, and novel approaches to the care of its sufferers are needed. New information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to assist those caring for people with dementia, through access to networked information and support, tracking and surveillance. This article reports the views about such new technologies of 34 carers of people with dementia. We also held a group discussion with nine carers for respondent validation. The carers' actual use of new ICT was limited, although they thought a gradual increase in the use of networked technology in dementia care was inevitable but would bypass some carers who saw themselves as too old. Carers expressed a general enthusiasm for the benefits of ICT, but usually not for themselves, and they identified several key challenges including: establishing an appropriate balance between, on the one hand, privacy and autonomy and, on the other: maximising safety; establishing responsibility for and ownership of the equipment and who bears the costs; the possibility that technological help would mean a loss of valued personal contact; and the possibility that technology would substitute for existing services rather than be complementary. For carers and dementia sufferers to be supported, the expanding use of these technologies should be accompanied by intensive debate of the associated issues.

Keywords

dementiacarersinformation technologyqualitative methods
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 30 , Issue 6 , August 2010 , pp. 1073 - 1088
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barlow, J., Bayer, S. and Curry, R. 2005. Flexible homes, flexible care, inflexible organisations? The role of telecare in supporting independence. Housing Studies, 20, 3, 441–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biegel, D. E., Sales, E. and Schulz, R. 1991. Family Caregiving in Chronic Illness: Alzheimer's Disease, Cancer, Heart Disease, Mental Illness, and Stroke. Sage, New York.Google Scholar
Blackburn, C., Read, J. and Hughes, N. 2005. Carers and the digital divide, factors affecting Internet use among carers in the UK. Health and Social Care in the Community, 13, 3, 201–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botsis, T. and Hartvigsen, G. 2008. Current status and future perspectives in telecare for elderly people suffering from chronic diseases. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 14, 4, 195–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowes, A. and McColgan, G. 2006. Smart Technology and Community Care for Older People, Innovation in West Lothian, Scotland. Age Concern Scotland, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Brownsell, S., Aldred, H. and Hawley, M. 2007. The role of telecare in supporting the needs of elderly people. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 13, 6, 293–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deguili, F. 2010. The burden of long-term care: how Italian family care-givers become employers. Ageing & Society, 30, 5, 755–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health 2009. Living Well with Dementia: A National Dementia Strategy. Department of Health, London.Google Scholar
Department of Health, Older People and Disability Division 2005. Building Telecare in England. Department of Health, London.Google Scholar
Essen, A. 2008. The two facets of electronic care surveillance: an exploration of the views of older people who live with monitoring devices. Social Science and Medicine, 67, 1, 128–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Knapp, M. and Prince, M. 2007. Dementia UK: A Report into the Prevalence and Cost of Dementia. Alzheimer's Society, London.Google Scholar
Livingston, G. E., Manela, M. and Katona, C. 1996. Depression and other psychiatric morbidity in carers of elderly people living at home. British Medical Journal, 312, 7024, 153–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCreadie, C., Wright, F. and Tinker, A. 2006. Improving the provision of information about assistive technology for older people. Quality in Ageing, 7, 2, 13–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orpwood, R., Bjorneby, S., Hagen, I., Maki, O., Faulkner, R. and Topo, P. 2004. User involvement in dementia product development. Dementia, 3, 3, 263–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Percival, J. and Hanson, J. 2006. Big brother or brave new world? Telecare and its implications for older people's independence and social inclusion. Critical Social Policy, 26, 4, 888–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, J., Chiu, T. and Eysenbach, G. 2008. A systematic review of networked technologies supporting carers of people with dementia. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 14, 3, 154–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Powell, J., Gunn, K., Griffiths, F. E., Clarke, A. E., Sheehan, B. and Lowe, P. 2008. The role of networked technology in supporting carers of people with dementia: qualitative study. Final report, Department of Health Policy Research Programme Project 02/00053, Health Sciences Research Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.Google Scholar
Rialle, V., Oliver, C., Guigui, C. and Herve, C. 2008. What do family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients desire in smart home technologies? Contrasted results of a wide survey. Methods of Information in Medicine, 47, 1, 63–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Ritchie, J. and Spencer, L. 1993. Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In Bryman, A. and Burgess, R. (eds), Analysing Qualitative Data. Routledge, London, 173–94.Google Scholar
Sävenstedt, S., Sandman, P. O. and Zingmark, K. 2006. The duality in using information and communication technology in elder care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 56, 1, 17–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schopp, L. H., Demiris, G. and Glueckauf, R. L. 2006. Rural backwaters or front-runners? Rural telehealth in the vanguard of psychology practice. Professional Psychology, Research and Practice, 37, 2, 165–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selwyn, N., Gorard, S., Furlong, J. and Madden, L. 2003. Older adults' use of ICT in everyday life. Ageing & Society, 23, 5, 561–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watari, K., Wetherell, J. L., Gatz, M., Delaney, J., Ladd, C. and Cherry, D. 2006. Long distance caregivers: characteristics, service needs, and use of a long distance caregiver program. Clinical Gerontologist, 29, 4, 61–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolham, J. 2005. Safe at Home: A Second Evaluation of a Project that Uses Assistive Technology to Support the Independence of People with Dementia in Their Own Homes. Hawker, London.Google Scholar