Abstract
BackgroundPolicy makers and care providers see assistive technology and telecare as potential products to support people with dementia to live independently in their homes and communities. Previous research rarely examined how people with dementia and their caregivers actually use such technology. The study examined how and why people living with dementia and their caregivers used assistive technology and telecare in their own homes.MethodsThis study used an ethnographic design embedded within the NIHR-funded Assistive Technology and Telecare to maintain Independent Living At home for people with dementia (ATTILA) randomised controlled trial. We collected 208 h of observational data on situated practices of ten people with dementia and their ten caregivers. We used this data to construct extended cases to explain how technologies supported people with dementia in home and community settings.ResultsWe identified three themes: placing technology in care, which illustrates how people with dementia and caregivers ‘fit’ technology into their homes and routines; replacing care with technology, which shows how caregivers replaced normal care practices with ones mediated through technologies; and technology displacing care and everyday life, which highlights how technologies disrupted the everyday lives of people with dementia.DiscussionThis study exemplifies unintended and unanticipated consequences for assistive technology and telecare uptake in ‘real world’ community-based dementia care. It underlines the need to identify and map the context of technological provision over time within the changing lives of people with dementia and their caregivers.
Highlights
Policy makers and care providers see assistive technology and telecare as potential products to support people with dementia to live independently in their homes and communities
Assistive technology and telecare (ATT) are championed as possible interventions to support people living with dementia to live independently and safely within their homes and wider communities [1]
Some cases had demonstrably fewer hours of observation for varying reasons, such as hospitalisation of a participant (The Drapers), death of a participant (Violet and Rose), or limited time available to the caregiver due to extensive travel required to visit the home of the person with dementia (The Smiths)
Summary
Policy makers and care providers see assistive technology and telecare as potential products to support people with dementia to live independently in their homes and communities. Relatively little research has examined how, and why, people with dementia and their caregivers use these technologies in their everyday lives and how such experiences may affect their wellbeing and ability to sustain their community-based care arrangements. This strategy highlighted the need for NHS England to exploit novel technologies within future care arrangements to attain these outcomes. The current evidence base for some technology, like telecare, does not confirm their appropriateness or efficacy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
