Department of Public Health Sciences, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics (BISI) Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Department of Nursing Sciences, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada.
BMC Geriatr. 2022 Apr 28;22(1):376. doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-03048-w.
Technology offers opportunities to support older adults with mild cognitive impairments to remain independent and socially connected, but is often not used. Although determinants of technology use among older adults in general are well studied, much less is known about how these factors impact technology use behaviour in cognitively impaired older adults. This study aimed to bridge this gap in research by examining the factors underlying technology use in community-dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairments.
We applied a generic qualitative design and used 16 semi-structured interviews to collect data from Belgian (Flemish) community-dwelling older adults diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia and informal caregivers. To get data from different perspectives, a focus group with professional caregivers was added. We used thematic analysis with an inductive approach to identify and select themes from the data.
We identified two themes: introduction of technology and determinants of technology adoption and continued use. Successful technology adoption in cognitively impaired older adults is need-driven and subject to individual, technological and contextual characteristics. Specific for older adults with cognitive impairments are the importance of disease awareness and cognitive ability for adoption and continued use, respectively. Although social support can be a valuable alternative to technology, it is an important facilitator of continued technology use in these older adults. Similarly, integration of technologies in daily routines can buffer discontinuation of technologies.
Future research is encouraged to validate our findings in a postpandemic era and to further develop a novel theoretical framework for technology acceptance among older adults with cognitive impairments. Moreover, identification of crucial determinants as well as strategies to remove use barriers are also important future research tasks. Clinical practice should focus on improving disease awareness to facilitate technology adoption and policies should invest in training and support of professional caregivers and in reimbursement strategies to facilitate implementation of technology in practice.
技术为支持有轻度认知障碍的老年人保持独立和社交联系提供了机会，但通常未被使用。尽管一般来说，老年人使用技术的决定因素已经得到了很好的研究，但对于这些因素如何影响认知障碍老年人的技术使用行为知之甚少。本研究旨在通过检查社区居住的轻度认知障碍老年人使用技术的背后因素来填补这一研究空白。
我们采用了通用的定性设计，并使用 16 次半结构化访谈从比利时（佛兰芒语区）社区居住的被诊断为轻度认知障碍或痴呆症的老年人和非正式照顾者那里收集数据。为了从不同的角度获取数据，我们增加了一个有专业照顾者参加的焦点小组。我们使用主题分析和归纳方法从数据中识别和选择主题。
我们确定了两个主题：技术的引入和技术采用和持续使用的决定因素。认知障碍老年人成功采用技术是需求驱动的，取决于个人、技术和环境特征。对于认知障碍老年人来说，疾病意识和认知能力分别对采用和持续使用很重要。尽管社会支持可以作为技术的重要替代物，但它是这些老年人持续使用技术的重要促进因素。同样，将技术集成到日常生活中可以缓冲技术的停用。
鼓励未来的研究在后疫情时代验证我们的发现，并进一步为认知障碍老年人的技术接受制定新的理论框架。此外，确定关键决定因素以及消除使用障碍的策略也是未来重要的研究任务。临床实践应重点提高疾病意识，以促进技术采用，政策应投资于培训和支持专业照顾者，并制定报销策略，以促进技术在实践中的实施。
