Portable technology increases the awareness of the situation for the caregiver and the person with dementia.
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Technology is available to help almost all facets of modern life, especially by helping people with dementia to wander and alert their caregivers when they do.
Studies have shown that this technology – which generally involves portable devices with a GPS and similar non -invasive sensors – reduces the emotional tension of those who take care of a family member with dementia.
This is important, given that on 6.9 million Americans 65 years and over live with Alzheimer’s diseaseAnd Alzheimer’s rates and other forms of dementia increase. In addition, the family caregivers of people with dementia know more stress and good physical and mental health compared to others.
Study participants said they had provided an average of 5.7 hours a day of care.
Until now, little is known about the way in which dementia caregivers use these products and how beneficial they are.
Now, a new overview of user satisfaction with such a brand – Theoretical care – is available, thanks to a pilot study funded by the Research and Care Consortium in Texas Alzheimer and led by researchers Texas A & M University School of Public Health.
The Theora care system provides a portable device for the person with dementia, which is associated with a smartphone application that alerts the caregiver if the person wandered. The system also allows communication between the two.
“This concentration on increasing awareness of the situation for the caregiver and the person with dementia is a new innovation in this type of technology,” said Dr Matthew Lee Smithprofessor of health behavior who helped to carry out the study. “Our goal was to discover how usable caregivers found this technology and their overall satisfaction with it.”
In addition to Smith, the team included researchers from Texas A&M Dr Marcia G. OryRegents and distinguished professor, and staff member Ashley D. Wilson and postdoctoral colleague Chung Lin Kew – All of the Community health and aging center – and colleagues at the University of Northern Texas, from the University of Texas to the Austin Dell Medical School and the University of Utah.
A device based on GPS
Their study, which was implemented from September 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, involved 41 dyads made up of people living with dementia and their family caregivers in three sites in Texas. The average age of caregivers was 66 years, 78.7% were women, 95.2% were white race and 61.9% had at least a four -year university degree. The average age of care beneficiaries was 76.77 years, 57.6% were men, 96.8% were white race and 58.7% had at least a four -year university degree.
About 79%of caregivers said they lived with their care beneficiary, who was their spouse or partner (66.7%) or parent (28.6%). They also said they had provided an average of 5.7 hours a day of care.
Those who receive care then carried a device based on GPS (resembling a smartwatch) which also had an SOS emergency call function. Their caregivers downloaded a smartphone application that informed them of the location of their care recipient, established physical limits that have triggered smartphone notifications when they are crossed and allowed immediate communication with the recipients of care who wandered.
Results
After three months of use of the system, the caregivers finished a telephone interview in which they provided information on the frequency to which they used the system and its follow -up, “SAFE ZONE” and bidirectional call features. They also provided comments concerning the ease of use of the system, the usefulness of the care provision and their overall satisfaction.
“On average, caregivers with a higher reference Zarit Burden interview The scores revealed that the system was more useful with their care and was more satisfied with the system, “said Smith.
He added that their satisfaction can arise from their perception that these solutions based on technology reduce stress factors associated with supervision vigilance and fear of wandering.
A large percentage of caregivers (70%) indicated that their care beneficiary carried the portable apparatus daily. Caregivers have reported less frequent daily use of monitoring the location of the smartphone, geo-closing features or double-direction calls (from 39% to 17.1%).
Smith said that it suggests that caregivers have benefited from knowing that the dementia was wearing the device and that there were fewer daily needs for certain system characteristics.
“Although more studies are necessary, these results are encouraging,” said Smith. “They indicate that multi-component technological solutions can be adopted and could benefit caregivers and people living with dementia.”