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Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care

(1) Background: Given the increased social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges faced by informal dementia caregivers have increased. An increasing use of technology, both in care and dementia clinical trials, depends upon caregivers’ abilities as a user. Accordingly, the aim of...

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Autores principales: Wójcik, Daniel, Szczechowiak, Katarzyna, Konopka, Patrycja, Owczarek, Mateusz, Kuzia, Agata, Rydlewska-Liszkowska, Izabela, Pikala, Małgorzata
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003488/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33808644
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063167
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author Wójcik, Daniel
Szczechowiak, Katarzyna
Konopka, Patrycja
Owczarek, Mateusz
Kuzia, Agata
Rydlewska-Liszkowska, Izabela
Pikala, Małgorzata
author_facet Wójcik, Daniel
Szczechowiak, Katarzyna
Konopka, Patrycja
Owczarek, Mateusz
Kuzia, Agata
Rydlewska-Liszkowska, Izabela
Pikala, Małgorzata
author_sort Wójcik, Daniel
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: Given the increased social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges faced by informal dementia caregivers have increased. An increasing use of technology, both in care and dementia clinical trials, depends upon caregivers’ abilities as a user. Accordingly, the aim of our study was to verify the current technology (smartphone and computer) use and acceptance in care, regarding socio-demographic variables; (2) Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 102 dementia caregivers, mostly of patients with moderate dementia; (3) Results: The majority of participants were women (63%), and large number of them used technological devices such as a smartphone (91%) or computer (81%). Results revealed differences between age, gender, and education level on technology acceptance. Interestingly, smartphone use and acceptance seemed to be feasible, regardless of age, whereas computer use was negatively correlated with age. Technology was perceived by respondents as most useful for patients’ activities including locomotion, toileting, and meals; (4) Conclusions: The future of technology use in dementia care should indicate solutions tailored to individual characteristics such as new technology solutions (GPS trackers, smartphone apps, dietary intervention, and meal planning apps).
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spelling pubmed-80034882021-03-28 Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care Wójcik, Daniel Szczechowiak, Katarzyna Konopka, Patrycja Owczarek, Mateusz Kuzia, Agata Rydlewska-Liszkowska, Izabela Pikala, Małgorzata Int J Environ Res Public Health Article (1) Background: Given the increased social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges faced by informal dementia caregivers have increased. An increasing use of technology, both in care and dementia clinical trials, depends upon caregivers’ abilities as a user. Accordingly, the aim of our study was to verify the current technology (smartphone and computer) use and acceptance in care, regarding socio-demographic variables; (2) Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 102 dementia caregivers, mostly of patients with moderate dementia; (3) Results: The majority of participants were women (63%), and large number of them used technological devices such as a smartphone (91%) or computer (81%). Results revealed differences between age, gender, and education level on technology acceptance. Interestingly, smartphone use and acceptance seemed to be feasible, regardless of age, whereas computer use was negatively correlated with age. Technology was perceived by respondents as most useful for patients’ activities including locomotion, toileting, and meals; (4) Conclusions: The future of technology use in dementia care should indicate solutions tailored to individual characteristics such as new technology solutions (GPS trackers, smartphone apps, dietary intervention, and meal planning apps). MDPI 2021-03-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8003488/ /pubmed/33808644 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063167 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wójcik, Daniel
Szczechowiak, Katarzyna
Konopka, Patrycja
Owczarek, Mateusz
Kuzia, Agata
Rydlewska-Liszkowska, Izabela
Pikala, Małgorzata
Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care
title Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care
title_full Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care
title_fullStr Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care
title_full_unstemmed Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care
title_short Informal Dementia Caregivers: Current Technology Use and Acceptance of Technology in Care
title_sort informal dementia caregivers: current technology use and acceptance of technology in care
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003488/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33808644
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063167
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