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Informal Caregivers’ Burden, Commuting Time, and Acceptance Towards Unobtrusive In-Home Monitoring Technology in Home-Based Dementia Care

Reick, Leonie (2022) Informal Caregivers’ Burden, Commuting Time, and Acceptance Towards Unobtrusive In-Home Monitoring Technology in Home-Based Dementia Care.

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Abstract:Background: With dementia cases rising and professional care institutions having reached their limit, the care of people with dementia is increasingly becoming the responsibility of informal caregivers. However, they often suffer under a high burden of care and provide care from a distance. Hence, novel unobtrusive in-home monitoring technologies are currently in development, which may help informal caregivers. To achieve a successful implementation, it is important to understand end users’ acceptance towards the novel systems and their contexts. Objective: The sample’s caregiver burden was investigated and how it may be associated with their commuting time to the care recipient. Furthermore, informal caregivers’ overall acceptance towards in-home monitoring technology, as well as in specific use scenarios, was measured. Lastly, it was explored how acceptance may be associated with informal caregivers’ burden and differ for various commuting times. Methods: An online quantitative cross-sectional survey was administered with German and Dutch informal caregivers of people with dementia and mild cognitive impairments (N = 87). The 4-item ZBI screening scale was used to measure the caregivers’ burden and scales were constructed to investigate their acceptance and commuting time. Five different use scenarios were designed. Data was analyzed with descriptive and inferential (one-way ANOVA, Friedman test, Spearman’s rho, Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA) statistics. Results: Participants experienced a high burden of care and a curvilinear relationship was found between the caregiver burden and commuting times (p=.001). The sample tended to overall agree towards using in-home monitoring technology, as well as in the use scenarios. Acceptance in “acute safety-related situations” was higher than in situations related to “safety- related risk predictions” (p=.005), “selfcare behaviour” (p=.025), and “long-term patterns” (p=.01), while no difference was found to “nocturnal wellbeing” situations (p=.275). Overall acceptance towards in-home monitoring technology, as well as in use scenarios, was not found to be associated with caregiver burden, and not different for various commuting times. Conclusion: This research focused on the pre-implementation of the novel unobtrusive in-home monitoring technologies and gained an insight into situations in which users may be specifically accepting towards in-home monitoring technologies. It is recommended that future studies further investigate how commuting times may be associated with different needs concerning in-home monitoring technologies while controlling for caregivers’ contexts. Keywords: dementia, informal caregivers, unobtrusive in-home monitoring technology, acceptance, caregiver burden, commuting time, scenarios, use situations, user-centered design
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/91509
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