Considering the use of a personal emergency response system: an experience of frail, older women.

Abstract

The individual considerations of frail women who are elderly as to the use of personal emergency response systems (PERS) are discussed within this article, and they derived from a larger longitudinal study that explores the home care experience of older widows. Participants were 11 frail women (aged 81-94) who perceived a risk of "falling and not being found" and did not have a PERS. A descriptive phenomenological method was used to analyze PERS-related data obtained during interviews with each woman in her home. With regard to considering the use of a PERS, experiences were structured variously by "getting by fine without it," "waiting to get it until I really need it," "convincing myself that I might get it later," and "borrowing no more trouble than I already have." Consistent interventions by home care professionals may perhaps be needed to increase PERS utilization rates. To develop effective interventions, further descriptive research is deemed necessary to explore drawbacks and barriers to PERS use by older frail women.