Assistance and Support of Primary Caregivers through an eService Platform

Claudia I Martínez-Alcalá,José A Ramírez-Salvador,Brenda Jiménez-Rodríguez,Alejandra Rosales-Lagarde

doi:10.20897/jisem.201809

Abstract

The increasing human longevity around the world calls for new attention models in which the primary caregiver plays a crucial role as a source of care supply. However, primary caregivers’ lack of training, along with high levels of stress, depression and anxiety, can have a negative impact on both the caregiver’s health and the development of caregiving duties. Hence, the objective of the present article is to introduce the eCuidador platform, an innovative tool that seeks to provide assistance and support to primary caregivers by means of a variety of services available in the cloud with the aim of improving caregivers’ health and quality of life. Likewise, we present the results obtained from the pilot test validation, in which the evaluation of the following parameters was carried out: Usability (12), Functionality (10), Design (11), Usefulness (12) and Satisfaction (12). The participants of this pilot test were 12 primary caregivers (91.66% women).

Highlights

Scientific advances and the development of different branches of medical science have caused a deformation in the population pyramid, leading to a higher proportion of advanced-age population (Christensen et al, 2009)
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) mobile platform Informal caregivers of After using UnderstAID the caregivers in the experimental group (Núñez-Naveira et the patients with significantly decreased their depressive symptomatology according to the al., 2016)
Caregivers of The system provides a set of tools that enable the continuity of care at

Summary

Introduction

Scientific advances and the development of different branches of medical science have caused a deformation in the population pyramid, leading to a higher proportion of advanced-age population (Christensen et al, 2009). Progress in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has allowed the development of a wide array of platforms and technological applications oriented towards assisting and supporting the healthcare field (Yanga et al, 2015; Lee Ventola, 2014) These technological advances enable the systematization, dissemination and socialization of information with the aim of providing timely and effective attention, monitoring and tracking, as they can eliminate accessibility barriers and high costs, especially in vulnerable groups (Lee Ventola, 2014; Haluzaa and Jungwirtha, 2015). The caregiving role assumed by family members of elderly adults brings about changes in different spheres of a caregiver’s life, e.g. family, social life, work, and economy, usually generating negative repercussions on their health and self-care

Objectives

Methods

Results