Technology for home dementia care: A prototype locating system put to the test

Abstract

IntroductionThe user experience of persons with dementia and their primary caregivers with locating systems is not firmly established.MethodsEighteen dyads used a prototype locating system during 4 weeks. Primary outcome measures were ratings of usability, and product functions and features. Secondary outcome measures were caregiver burden, perceived self-efficacy, frequency of use, and willingness to purchase the prototype. Changes in scores between baseline (T1) and end of testing period (T2) were compared by performing independent and dependent samples correlations and descriptive statistics.ResultsSeventeen dyads made up the final sample. Ratings of usability and product functions and features were fair, but usability ratings were significantly reduced after 4 weeks. Although the prototype was used infrequently by majority of the participants, most caregivers would be willing to purchase the prototype, with men more willing than women. No significant change in technological willingness, caregiver burden, or perceived self-efficacy was found between T1 and T2. Perceived self-efficacy significantly negatively correlated with willingness to purchase the prototype after 4 weeks.DiscussionResults highlight the importance of including end users in the research and development phase of locating systems to improve the user experience in home dementia care. Necessary indications for further research are carrying out randomized controlled trials with larger, more representative samples and developing innovative software and hardware solutions.

User experience and clinical effectiveness with two wearable global positioning system devices in home dementia care

“…Although the selected products were similar, usability ratings by dyads of product B were significantly better than ratings of product A throughout the study. Differences in ratings of usability and design features within dyads are in line with previous studies, which have suggested that the needs and preferences of PwDs and CGs with GPS devices need to be taken into consideration as they may differ [7,8,42,43]. Also, the finding that usability ratings with both products decreased after 4 weeks of use, but not significantly, seems to imply that users' expectations could not be fully met, but that they were not entirely dissatisfied.…”

“…To date, studies on prototype and commercial GPS devices in dementia care have used different product types with similar functions and design features. Typically, products are small (e.g., pager sized or watch sized), discrete or nonvisible (e.g., worn around the waist, neck, wrist, or placed inside a pocket or shoe sole), have two to six main functions (e.g., location, telephone, geofencing, alarm, fall detection, and speed alert), no buttons (i.e., passive systems) or one to three buttons (i.e., active systems), and are lightweight [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] . These functions and features are in line with most expert recommendations [7] , [12] .…”

“…This may partly explain why commercial GPS devices for dementia are rarely used outside clinical research settings [7] , [10] , [15] , although many are commercially available [14] , [16] . Furthermore, most studies on GPS devices focus on feasibility, acceptability, and usability [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [17] , [18] without providing a more holistic understanding of end users' experience with such devices. In addition, it is unclear whether the use of such products results in clinical effectiveness [14] , [19] , [20] .…”

Tecnologias assistivas para idosos com demência: revisão sistemática

“…(27) Despite the caregivers' preparation to manage the technologies, many indicate difficulty to implement them on a daily basis, mainly due to the flaws they present, which reinforces the need for system improvements. (28) Regarding the use of robotic navigation aids, the findings support the assertion that they effectively support the orientation and movement of demented people and are able to reduce the task performance time. Nevertheless, as the study included in the SLR associated the use of the robotic navigation aid with verbal direction prompts, the effectiveness of the contextual navigation prompts or not was questioned, as this was not evaluated separately in the research.…”

Extended Aid to Alzheimer and Dementia Patients using Novel Wearable Technology

“…In experimental work of [13], the location tracking system based on telemetry is proposed where GPS receiver is worn by patient and family member or caregiver could call and able to view location of wearer on map showed on CRT. The variety of location tracking solutions are offered and few studies are conducted to evaluate effectiveness of offered solutions such as in work [14], prototype is created and evaluated for improving care for dementia. A mobile app with prime functions such as locate, call, alarm, service hotline and two secondary functions such as zone mapping and zone sharing served as locating system.…”