Impact of Monitoring Technology on Family Caregivers

Miami University Oxford, Oxford OH

Investigators

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Currently, researchers are developing/evaluating technology-based interventions to reduce the burden associated with family caregiving to a relative with Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the literature on these efforts is virtually silent on the most fundamental issues introduced by these interventions: the potential conflict/contradiction among individual values of privacy, safety and personal control, and caregivers' trust in specific technological interventions. In this R21 application, we employ a novel technology-based intervention with which he have experience in the homes of family caregivers to relatives with AD to address a set of specific aims related to these issues. Questions derived from these aims include, among others: How do caregivers to older adults with AD define privacy and choose to exercise control in the caregiving context? How do definitions of/desire for privacy differ between caregivers who have specific experience with a monitoring technology and their peers with no such experience? What are caregivers' intended and unintended uses of and experiences with the monitoring technology? Using a quasi-experimental design, we will enroll 40 family caregivers who care for a relative with AD at home - 20 in an intervention group with a monitoring technology system installed in the home and 20 in a comparison group who do not receive the monitoring system. Participants in both the intervention and comparison groups will complete an in-home, baseline interview during which a structured paradigm will be used with open-ended questions to prompt caregivers to describe the personal meaning and importance they attach to the safety of the family member with AD, their own privacy (and that of the family member), and a sense of control in the caregiving role. Participants will also be asked to assess domains of QOL, as well as their expectations for/experiences with the monitoring technology and their trust in the technology. Standardized quantitative measures will document caregivers' general mastery, key components of the caregiving stress process (e.g., caregiving hassles, depressive symptomatology). A Dementia Rating Scale will be administered to the person with AD. Intervention participants will complete a 12 week follow-up with the same measures and participants in both groups will complete a 24 week follow-up in home interview with the same measures. A mix of qualitative and quantitative analytic tools will be applied and working hypotheses will be tested. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]