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SCIE research briefing 28: assistive technology and older people
- Authors:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE, BEECH Roger, ROBERTS Diane
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 11p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The term ‘assistive technology’ incorporates a wide variety of devices. Assistive technology can be supportive, preventive or responsive. The increasing proportion of older people in the population makes the use of assistive technology an attractive option in social services. Perceptions vary as to whether or not assistive technology has sufficient benefits. Existing research supports the greater use of assistive technology but further evaluation and ‘local learning’ is needed. The views and needs of people using assistive technology need to be taken into account.
The promise of assistive technology in institutionalized old age care: economic efficiency, improved working conditions, and better quality of care?
- Authors:
- SIREN Anu, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 16(5), 2021, pp.483-489.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Purpose: Assistive technologies in care work are expected to alleviate the challenges related to population aging, namely the pressure on public budgets and a shortage of care professionals. This study examines how various stakeholders view the potentials of assistive technology in an institutionalized care setting in Denmark. Method: Using ethnographic field observations, interviews, and document analysis, we explore the residents’, the staff’s, and the municipality’s perspectives on the technologies and analyze whether they live up to the stated expectations. Results: We identify three parallel narratives representing each of the stakeholder’s perspectives. The municipality’s triple-win narrative emphasizes expected gains in terms of efficiency, improved working conditions, and better quality of care. The staff’s ambiguity narrative contains both negative views regarding the motive for using technologies to save resources and positive accounts of how technologies have reduced work-related pain. The residents’ limited agency narrative reflects an internalization of the staff’s perspectives. Conclusions: We conclude that, despite both the staff and the municipality highlighting the residents’ well-being and comfort as important outcomes of assistive technologies, the residents’ wishes have limited influence on whether and, if so, how assistive technologies are used. (Edited publisher abstract)
A survey of assistive robots and systems for elderly care
- Authors:
- SANTHANARAJ Karthik Kumar, RAMYA M.M., DINAKARAN D.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Enabling Technologies, 15(1), 2021, pp.66-72.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The rousing phenomenon of the ageing population is becoming a vital issue and demanding fulminant actions. Population ageing is a resultant of the enhanced health-care system, groovy antibiotics, medications and economic well-being. Old age leads to copious amounts of ailments. Aged people, owing to their reduced mobility and enervating disabilities, tend to rely upon caretakers and/or nursing personnel. With the increasing vogue of nuclear families in the society, the elderly are at the risk of being unveiled to emotional, physical and fiscal insecurities in the years to come. Caring for those seniors will be an enormous undertaking. Design/methodology/approach: There is a dire need for an intelligent assistive system to meet out the requirements of continuous holistic care and monitoring. Assistive robots and systems used for elderly care are studied. The design motivation for the robots, elderly–robot interaction capabilities and technology incorporated in the systems are examined meticulously. Findings: From the survey, it is suggested that the subsystems of an assistive robot revamped for better human–machine interactions will be a potential alternative to the human counterpart. Affirmable advancements in the robot design and interaction methodologies that would increase the holistic care and assistance for aged people are analyzed and listed. Originality/value: This paper reviews the available assistive technologies and suggests a synergistic model that can be adopted for the caring of the elderly. (Edited publisher abstract)
To feel safe in everyday life at home: a study of older adults after home modifications
- Authors:
- PETERSSON Ingela, LILJA Margareta, BORELL Lena
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 32(5), July 2012, pp.791-811.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This qualitative study investigated contributory factors of safety in everyday life for eight older adults who received modification services. Three main categories emerged from interviews: prerequisites that enable a feeling of safety; strategies that enable safety in everyday life; and use of and reliance on technology impacts on safety. The results suggested that to feel safe in everyday life was based on three prerequisites: feeling healthy; having someone to rely on; and feeling at home. These prerequisites further impacted on the participants' strategies for handling problems in everyday life but also on the ability to use and benefit from technology such as home modifications. Interventions increase safety for older adults should primarily be focused on the presence and fulfilment of prerequisites and later on other interventions such as technology. Technology such as home modifications and assistive devices was not found in this study to facilitate the feeling of safety unless supported by the fulfilled prerequisites.
The effectiveness of the Talking Mats framework in helping people with dementia to express their views on well-being
- Authors:
- MURPHY Joan, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Dementia: the International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 9(4), November 2010, pp.454-472.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Thirty one people at different stages of dementia were interviewed them about their well-being using Talking Mats, a low-tech communication framework, and usual communication methods. The communication effectiveness of each method was compared. Findings revealed that the Talking Mats framework was associated with better communication at all stages of dementia when compared to usual communication methods. Better communication effectiveness was evident in the participants’ understanding, engagement, keeping on-track and ability to make their views understood. There was also less repetitive behaviour and less distractibility when using the Talking Mats framework. The authors conclude that the Talking Mats framework can play an important role in improving communication by providing an accessible, low cost tool which family and staff can use with people with dementia to help them express their views.
‘I feel so much safer’: unravelling community equipment outcomes
- Authors:
- SAINTY Mandy, LAMBKIN Christopher, MAILE Louise
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(11), November 2009, pp.499-506.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This study looks at the impact of community equipment services on the health and wellbeing outcomes of choice and control, quality of life, and personal dignity. Questionnaires were sent out to 483 adults who had been prescribed community equipment by social or primary care services to meet mobility needs (97), domestic activity needs (99), bathing needs (150), toileting needs (93) and sensory needs (44). A response rate of 52% was achieved. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents reported that they were using all the equipment prescribed. Of those who were using the equipment, 91% reported feeling safer and over 80% said that it made a positive difference to their independence, quality of life or ability to do things when they wanted. Bathing equipment was either very successful or not used at all, and the authors suggest that there is scope to maximise the effective use of bathing equipment. The provision of equipment had less of an impact on reducing the need for assistance at home, particularly from paid carers.
The two facets of electronic care surveillance: an exploration of the views of older people who live with monitoring devices
- Author:
- ESSEN Anna
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 67(1), July 2008, pp.128-136.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Scholars are increasingly questioning the notion that electronic surveillance merely constrains individuals' liberty and privacy. However, illustrations of alternative perspectives are few and there is a need for empirical research exploring the actual experience of surveilled subjects. This study, carried out in Sweden, seeks to offer a nuanced account of how senior citizens experience electronic care surveillance in relation to their privacy. It is based on in-depth interviews with 17 seniors who have participated in a telemonitoring project and who have experience of being continuously activity monitored in their own homes. The findings suggest that senior citizens can perceive electronic care surveillance as freeing and as protecting their privacy, as it enables them to continue living in their own home rather than moving to a nursing home. One individual, however, experienced a privacy violation and the surveillance service was interrupted at her request. This illustrates the importance of built-in possibilities for subjects to exit such services. In general, the study highlights that e-surveillance can be not only constraining but also enabling. Hence, it supports the view of the dual nature of surveillance. The study also illustrates the agency of the surveilled subject, extending the argument that various agents actually participate in the construction of surveillance practices. It analyses the indirect role and responsibility of the surveilled subject, and thereby questions the traditional roles ascribed to the agents and targets of surveillance.
An investigation of the number and cost of assistive devices used by older people who had fallen and called a 999 ambulance
- Authors:
- LOGAN P. A., et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70(11), November 2007, pp.475-478.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Some assistive devices, such as walking frames and bath boards, are provided by health and social services, but some are bought by people through shops, the internet and magazines or second hand. Using a face-to-face interview, the number and cost of assistive devices bought by people who had fallen and called a 999 ambulance were investigated. Two hundred and four older people (mean age 83 years, 72/35% men) who had fallen and called an emergency ambulance were interviewed at home by a research occupational therapist. A structured questionnaire about the cost and use of assistive devices was completed. Functional ability was measured using the Barthel Index and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living Scale. One hundred and ten people (54%) had bought their own devices, spending a median of £700 each. People with multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart conditions and Parkinson's disease had spent over twice as much as those with osteoarthritis, stroke, diabetes and dementia. Many older people buy their own assistive devices at a considerable cost to themselves. As social services direct payments allow people to manage their own care packages, more people will be buying direct and may be looking for advice from occupational therapists.
Access-ability: making technology more usable by people with disabilities
- Author:
- GILL John
- Publisher:
- Royal National Institute for the Blind
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 36p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This publication provides an overview of guidelines that are now available on the Internet to help designers, engineers and technicians solve the problems of making the technology in our everyday lives accessible and easier to use by elderly people and people with disabilities. It is the experience of many who are neither elderly or disabled, that the technology in our everyday lives is both complex and difficult to deal with. From video recorder and television controls to mobile phones, ticket selling machines, screen interfaces and e-mail systems. Almost nothing is simple. Most devices are complicated and off-putting. People with disabilities, such as low vision or poor manual dexterity, have long had to deal with devices that have not been designed with their needs in mind. There is now growing concern that the lack of design foresight is creating greater social exclusion.
Improving the provision of information about assistive technology for older people: summary of research
- Authors:
- WRIGHT Fay, MCCREADIE Claudine, TINKER Anthea
- Publisher:
- University of London. Kings College. Institute of Gerontology
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 57p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The importance of assistive technology (AT) in helping older people maintain independence is increasingly recognised in policy. The piece of research, looked at an important corollary of this development - the provision of relevant and appropriate information about AT. The research involved mapping both AT and information sources, focus groups with 28 users aged 75 and over and 12 carers, interviews with 40 professionals and information providers and a postal questionnaire to 131 care home managers (response rate of 45%). The findings point to the large volume of available information, but suggest that there are problems in identifying needs and in accessing all necessary information. Professionals share these problems and organisational issues impact on professional capacity to provide satisfactory information. The situation in care homes appears ambiguous in terms of responsibility for AT provision for residents and hence for information. The researchers concluded that there is considerable scope for improving both access to information and the design of that information. They also concluded that there are terminology issues that need addressing in further research.