Satisfaction and use of personal emergency response systems.

BACKGROUND

Despite a wide distribution, little is known about the relationship between subscriber satisfaction and the extent of use or non-use of personal emergency response systems (PERS).

OBJECTIVES

To examine the degree of satisfaction with PERS, the wearing time and its use in case of a fall.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

Telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 52 elderly community-dwelling PERS users.

RESULTS

PERS subscribers were very satisfied with their device; however, 24% of the participants reported that they never wear the alarm button, and only 14% wear it 24 hours each day. After falls PERS was not activated by 83% (n=11) of the subscribers who fell alone and lay on the floor longer than 5 minutes. None of the five different satisfaction measures and only the subscriber's estimation of relevance of the PERS showed to be a significant predictor of PERS use in daily life.

CONCLUSIONS

High rates of non-use of PERS in everyday life and after falls can be found. Subscribers' estimation of relevance but not satisfaction predicts the usage of PERS in everyday life. Further research is needed to better understand the reasons not using a PERS.