Digital technologies in ISupport implementation in Russia

Abstract

Objective:More than 1.5 million people have been diagnosed with dementia in Russia. Although we have all the necessary doctors and medicines, there is no clear, expert-approved special care system for people with dementia: caregivers do not have a manual for working with people with cognitive impairments. Our adapted web-guide and mobile application aim to educate professional and informal caregivers, and society about the principles of taking care for people with dementia, it’s any age prevention, creating an environment of equality.The objective of this study is to explore the level of raising awareness of the Russian society about dementia after the implementation of our digital technologies.Methods:Conducting an in-depth expert interview and a focus group with caregivers who got acquainted with the adapted ISupport guide were applied in order to evaluate the appropriateness of care practice for people with dementia in terms of medical standards and to uncover practical infelicities and improve them. Collected data and respondent’s replies analyses, content-analysis that we made became the basic principles of our new application. The quantitative method allows us to track user activity and assess the level of social involvement in dementia issues. Moreover, we have collected caregivers' opinions after they used our application and web-version for the first time by virtue of a qualitative method.Results:We have reached various aims during our ISupport implementation and working on the research project. First, the number of users of our mobile application is steadily growing (+ 4 people per day at the launch stage). Second, we have received a lot of feedback about our ISupport web version: “it is easy to use; it has a good design, sipid content and a logical structure, which in turn facilitates the process of caring for a person with dementia. Third, medical experts approved our adaptation, web-version and mobile application and recommended it for use in Russian-speaking countries.Conclusion:we have come to both theoretical and practical results of ISupport implementation in Russia and successfully launched two digital projects. Thanks to the work we have done the dementia issue in Russia will become more popular among society and will prevent the disease of thousands of people.