Abstract
BackgroundThe low uptake of telecare and telehealth services by older people may be explained by the limited involvement of users in the design. If the ambition of ‘care closer to home’ is to be realised, then industry, health and social care providers must evolve ways to work with older people to co-produce useful and useable solutions.MethodWe conducted 10 co-design workshops with users of telehealth and telecare, their carers, service providers and technology suppliers. Using vignettes developed from in-depth ethnographic case studies, we explored participants’ perspectives on the design features of technologies and services to enable and facilitate the co-production of new care solutions. Workshop discussions were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically.ResultsAnalysis revealed four main themes. First, there is a need to raise awareness and provide information to potential users of assisted living technologies (ALTs). Second, technologies must be highly customisable and adaptable to accommodate the multiple and changing needs of different users. Third, the service must align closely with the individual’s wider social support network. Finally, the service must support a high degree of information sharing and coordination.ConclusionsThe case vignettes within inclusive and democratic co-design workshops provided a powerful means for ALT users and their carers to contribute, along with other stakeholders, to technology and service design. The workshops identified a need to focus attention on supporting the social processes that facilitate the collective efforts of formal and informal care networks in ALT delivery and use.
Highlights
IntroductionTelecare and telehealth An ageing population is fuelling interest in assisted living technologies (ALTs), including telecare (remote monitoring of emergencies through sensor devices and personal alarms) and telehealth (transmission of medical information over telecommunication)
Telecare and telehealth An ageing population is fuelling interest in assisted living technologies (ALTs), including telecare and telehealth
The case vignettes within inclusive and democratic co-design workshops provided a powerful means for ALT users and their carers to contribute, along with other stakeholders, to technology and service design
Summary
Telecare and telehealth An ageing population is fuelling interest in assisted living technologies (ALTs), including telecare (remote monitoring of emergencies through sensor devices and personal alarms) and telehealth (transmission of medical information over telecommunication). The Whole System Demonstrator (WSD), the largest randomised controlled trial of telecare and telehealth to date, was conducted in England in 2008–2011 to provide evidence for cost-effectiveness. Despite continuing debate about the significance of the WSD [3,4,5], investment has continued into largescale initiatives [6]. This has been driven by a modernist vision of ALTs as inevitably useful, empowering and unobtrusive, and a pro-innovation bias for the widespread deployment of new technologies to increase service efficiencies and cost savings [7]. If the ambition of ‘care closer to home’ is to be realised, industry, health and social care providers must evolve ways to work with older people to co-produce useful and useable solutions
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