University of Twente Student Theses

Experiences and expectations towards unobtrusive in-home monitoring and healthcare management platform Carenzorgt from the viewpoint of informal caregivers of people with dementia : a mixed methods approach

Oudheusden, A.S. van (2019) Experiences and expectations towards unobtrusive in-home monitoring and healthcare management platform Carenzorgt from the viewpoint of informal caregivers of people with dementia : a mixed methods approach.

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Abstract:	Background: The number of people with dementia is extremely increasing. Many people with dementia live at home and when problems appear, they rely on informal caregivers. Those informal caregivers often live somewhere else and are leading their own lives. Informal caregivers are heavily burdened. Different assistive technologies are currently being developed to assist informal caregivers. One of those technologies is unobtrusive in-home monitoring, a sensing system monitoring the daily functioning as well as emotional- and behavioral state of the person suffering from dementia living alone. However, it is unknown what the opinion of informal caregivers of people with dementia is about unobtrusive in-home monitoring. Another assistive- technology system being used is the Healthcare platform Carenzorgt, of which it is unknown what the user experiences are of informal caregivers of people with dementia. Objectives: The aim of this study is (1) to gain insight into the needs and barriers of informal caregivers of people with dementia (PwD) with regard to unobtrusive in-home monitoring, and (2) to gain insight in the usage and user experiences of the platform Carenzorgt by informal caregivers of PwD and to find strengths and weaknesses or points of improvement for the healthcare platform. Methods: This study employed a mixed-methods design, including quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The qualitative study was performed by conducting semi-structured interviews with seven users of the healthcare platform Carenzorgt in order to identify both the needs and barriers related to unobtrusive in-home monitoring and user experiences of the healthcare platform Carenzorgt. Via a survey, 7118 participants were asked about their experiences with Carenzorgt. Results: Results showed that this study identified different advantages of unobtrusive inhome monitoring systems: autonomy for the informal caregiver, more safety for the patient, the possibility to intervene faster, the system is a source of information and the burden of care of the informal caregiver could be reduced. Also different barriers have been mentioned: the system could cause more pressure for the informal caregiver, the system provided no added value, the patient will be downgraded into a technical objective and there will be loss of privacy for both the patient and the informal caregiver. The monitoring system has to meet different requirements: it should be personalized to individual patients and to the different phases of dementia, GPS should be added and the system should provide safety for the patient. Furthermore, results showed that participants are overall positive about the platform Carenzorgt. However, participants with low burden of care are more satisfied with the different functions of Carenzorgt than participants with higher burden of care (p=.00) Conclusion: This research explored the expectations of informal caregivers of people with dementia with unobtrusive in-home monitoring systems and their experiences with the healthcare platform Carenzorgt. Privacy is the main issue for unobtrusive in-home monitoring and in further research, privacy should be taken into account. Regarding Carenzorgt, it appeared that the communication between the formal- and informal caregivers could be improved. Personas can be used to get more insight in both topics. Keywords: dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, e-Health, monitoring systems, Connected Health, Carenzorgt, unobtrusive in-home monitoring
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	77 psychology
Programme:	Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/80283
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