JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Care staff in long-term care (LTC) assist older adults living with chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and stroke that can cause communication disorders. In addition to the complex cognitive challenges that can impact communication, further difficulties can arise from cultural-language differences between care staff and residents. Breakdowns in caregiver-resident communication can negatively impact the delivery of person-centred care. Recent advances in mobile technology (MT), specifically mobile devices (tablet/smartphone) and their software applications (apps) offer innovative solutions for supporting everyday communication between care staff and residents. To date, little is known about the care staff’s perspectives on the different ways that MT could be used to support communication with residents. A better understanding of the most useful and practical ways of using MT with older adults living in LTC could be used to inform the priority planning of mobile health (mHealth) interventions in daily care.

Objective:

This study aimed to identify care staff perspectives on (1) the different ways of using devices and apps to support everyday communication with adults living in LTC and (2) the priority care areas for using MT to support communication with residents.

Methods:

This descriptive study employed concept mapping (CM) methods to explore care staff perspectives about ways of using MT with residents and to identify the usefulness, practicality, and probable uses of MT to support communication in priority care areas. CM is an integrated mixed-methods approach (qualitative/quantitative) that uses a structured process to identify priority areas for planning and evaluation. Thirteen care staff from a single LTC home participated in this study. Concept mapping includes two main data collection phases: (1) statement generations through brainstorming and (2) statement structuring through sorting and rating. Brainstorming took place in person in a group session, while sorting and rating occurred individually after the brainstorming session. CM data was analyzed using multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to generate numerous interpretable data maps and displays.

Results:

Participants generated 67 unique statements during the brainstorming session. Following the sorting and rating of the statements, the concept map analysis was performed. five-clusters were identified (1) connect; (2) care management; (3) facilitate; (4) caregiving; and (5) overcome barriers. While all five clusters were rated as useful, with a mean score of 4.1 – 4.5 (Likert: 1-5), care staff rated cluster 2: care management as the highest on usefulness, practicality, and probable use of MT to support communication.

Conclusions:

This study provided insight into the viewpoints of care staff regarding the different ways MT could be used to support caregiver-resident communication in LTC. Our findings suggest that care management, facilitating communication, and overcoming barriers are three priority target areas for implementing mHealth interventions to promote person-centred care/resident-centred care.