University of Twente Student Theses
Het gebruik van eHealth ter preventie van een depressie bij ouderen
Nicolai, L. (2015) Het gebruik van eHealth ter preventie van een depressie bij ouderen.
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| Abstract: | Background: depression is a disease that occurs frequently among elderly people. Unfortunately it seems often not to be recognized. Because of the increasing population of elderly people in our society and the rise of life expectancy, the interest in preventing depression amongst elderly people is very high. Carintreggeland has built a house (the ‘Huis van de toekomst’), which contains a lot of eHealth technology. The goal of this research is to find out if the eHealth of the ‘Huis van de toekomst’ can help to trace and prevent depression. Objective: The objective of this research is to determine whether depression can be prevented by the use of eHealth technology. Method: This research is focussed on two different kind of respondents, the resident of the ‘Huis van de toekomst’ and five caregivers of old people. To gain a better understanding of the effects eHealth has on the resident of the ‘Huis van de toekomst’, he kept a journal for four weeks, and participated in three semi-structured interviews and two questionnaires on three scheduled moments. To gain a better understanding of how caregivers of elderly people recognize depression amongst their patients and what their perception of eHealth is, they participated in a semi-structured interview. The results are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. Results: Caregivers primarily recognize passivity, changes, sadness, anger and negativity amongst their depressive patients. Caregivers see the benefit in using eHealth technology by preventing depression amongst their patients. According to them, eHealth development should be focused on the future elderly, or unobtrusive integrated in the homes of today’s elderly. According to them, eHealth should be focused on the freedom and physical activity of elderly. They say contact moments should not disappear due to eHealth. They are afraid that losing contact moments will bring elderly people more in social isolation. A build-in GPS Tracker in the shoes of elderly people could be a solution. This will offer them freedom and an opportunity to visit family on their own. In addition, the physical activity produced by walking around can help prevent depression. A hometrainer may also help. Conclusion: eHealth could help preventing depression amongst elderly people if it is unobtrusively integrated and it does not take any effort or need for learning. Besides that, it should be primarily focused on passivity, changes, sadness, anger and negativity, with a main focus on physical activity. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/68479 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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