Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since Jan 27, 2021)
Date Submitted: Jul 9, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A Smart Technology-Assisted Home-Nursing Care Program for Family Caregivers of Older Persons with Dementia and Hip Fracture: A Mixed-Methods Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Smart care and remote health technology have been developed to facilitate family caregiving at home for older persons with physical or cognitive impairment. However, smart technologies have made only modest contributions to supporting caregivers, and their effectiveness is supported by little empirical evidence.
Objective:
The purpose of this preliminary study was to understand family caregivers’ experiences of receiving a smart technology-assisted (STA) home nursing care program to provide a knowledge base for future modifications.
Methods:
Participants included seven persons with dementia recruited from neurological clinics and six persons discharged after hip-fracture surgery from surgical wards of a medical center, along with their 13 family caregivers. Data were collected and analyzed using a mixed-methods approach.
Results:
Our STA-home nursing program increased family caregivers’ knowledge of older care receivers’ situation and condition, informed health care providers about care receivers’ condition, helped home care nurses provide timely interventions, balanced care receivers’ exercise and safety, motivated older persons to exercise, helped family caregivers balance work and caregiving, and provided guidance for caregiving activities. Family caregivers suggested that the STA-home nursing care program be modified by prompt feedback with more specific information analyzing care receiver activity, increased variety of wearable devices (smart clothing), and improving the stability and decreasing interference of electronic transmission and devices.
Conclusions:
The STA home-nursing care program was beneficial to family caregivers and their care receivers. However, we suggest that future studies use larger samples, randomized controlled trials, and longer follow-ups to explore the how this STA-home nursing care program is experienced.
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