Using a smart audio device, Tochie to deliver family messages in long-term care.

Abstract

Long-term care (LTC) residents are more likely to experience loneliness, social isolation and have dementia (Garner et al., 2018; Hou & Ngo, 2021). The effects of isolation have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While assistive technology has been a popular topic in gerontological health research, there have been limited findings on the experience of technology adoption in complex care environments such as LTC, and on family member and staff perspectives. "Tochie" is a smart audio device that allows family and significant others to remotely record and schedule messages, such as daily reminders or comforting audio recordings, to send to their loved ones in care settings. Our research explores the experiences of residents, families, and staff using the Tochie device in LTC. We applied qualitative descriptive design with interview and focus group methods. 10 residents, 9 family members, and 6 care staff from two long-term care homes in British Columbia, Canada, participated in the study. Each resident was given a device to use with their family member for a four-week intervention period. The research team checked in with family members and staff weekly via telephone and email to provide support and gather feedback. Pre- and post-intervention focus groups and interviews were held via Zoom and phone correspondence to learn about participants' experiences using Tochie. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes. Four common themes were identified to describe the experience of using Tochie in LTC: (a) Tochie as a means to facilitate emotional connection (b) Using Tochie in creative, personalized ways (c) Challenges and contextual considerations in LTC (d) Ideas for future developments CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us an opportunity to redefine and reconstruct what it means to "keep in touch" with loved ones in care settings. In our study, residents, families and staff highlighted the ways in which Tochie has enabled this connection and provided feedback on their challenges and device recommendations. This study explores the valuable perspectives of residents, their loved ones, and care staff in the use of assistive audio devices to inform product development and adoption into LTC.