University of Twente Student Theses

Implementation of In-home Monitoring Technology as a Remedy for Burdened Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia : Acceptance Research in light of Living Situation and Time since Diagnosis

Fragnelli, Daniel (2022) Implementation of In-home Monitoring Technology as a Remedy for Burdened Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia : Acceptance Research in light of Living Situation and Time since Diagnosis.

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Abstract:	While dementia cases are on the rise, the general preference of those affected is to live at home as long as possible. This puts a strain on the informal caregivers (e.g. family and friends). Health technology, especially in-home monitoring technology, could facilitate the care-taking role significantly. Acceptance research aims at investigating factors that could hinder or facilitate the successful implementation of those technologies into the daily life of caregivers. Different frameworks based on user centred design principles emphasise the importance of an interdisciplinary and multifaceted approach to acceptance research. Nevertheless, most acceptance research focuses for the most part on a small circle of stakeholders or just the technology itself, missing out on the other domains and stakeholders essential for implementation. The scope of this study is to fill the gap by quantitatively investigating acceptance from different perspectives, including assessment of differences in informal caregiver’s acceptance of in-home monitoring technology when they life together with their care recipients versus when they do not, as well as assessment of associations between informal caregivers acceptance towards those technologies and passed time since the diagnosis of their care recipient’s dementia type. 76 informal caregivers of people with dementia were recruited who took part in a survey measuring acceptance towards unobtrusive in-home monitoring technology using different statements which could be valued. Acceptance was treated as the dependent variable that was used to answer both research questions using a self-constructed acceptance scale. Living situation of informal caregivers and time since diagnosis were the independent variables that were coded as a dummy and an ordinal variable, respectively. Due to non-normality of the data, the non-parametric Mann Whitney-U test was used to assess differences between acceptance amongst informal caregivers that live with their care recipient versus those who do not and Spearman’s rho was used to check potential association between acceptance amongst informal caregivers and passed time since diagnosis or care recipient. Although the results showed a general tendency towards acceptance (Md = 3.69), the Mann-Whitney test turned out to be insignificant (p = .599) as well as the Spearman’s rho (p = .730). Therefore, none of the two research questions could be answered. Despite the insignificant results of this study, it still provides value. Firstly, it emphasises the importance and reminds the reader to adopt a more multifaceted approach when conducting acceptance research to optimise the implementation process. Aspects like accountability and responsibility when using systems based on artificial intelligence, barriers in the correct operation of those complex systems and the financing of potential training of informal caregivers for the successful handling of those technologies as well as corresponding ideas for future research are discussed. Secondly, practical implications for improved data gathering are given based on the limitations of this paper.
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/91483
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