How I want technology used in my care: Learning from documented choices of people living with dementia using a dyadic decision making tool

ABSTRACT

While technologies for aging in place are promoted to support care partners and people living with dementia, perspectives of people living with dementia are underrepresented in both use decisions among families and discussions within academia and industry. This mixed-methods study examined the use preferences of twenty-nine people living with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) for four categories of technologies: location tracking, in-home sensors, web-cameras, and virtual companion robots. Participants completed a novel dyadic intervention, Let’s Talk Tech, where they documented their preferences of the four technology categories for care planning purposes. Post-test interviews were thematically analyzed and provide insight into selection processes. Technology preferences varied considerably by and within participant living with mild AD. Excepting location tracking, non-technology and low-technology options were more desirable than the featured technologies. Control over technology use was of great importance to people living with AD. Considerations given to technology preference selection imperfectly fit within the new Health Technology Acceptance Model (H-TAM) developed for older adults. These findings underscore the importance of including people living with dementia in decision making about technologies to support care at home and the need for further personalization and tailorable technological devices to accommodate and align with their preferences.

KEYWORDS:

• People living with dementia
• care planning
• technology preferences
• decision aid
• ethics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center of the University of Washington [P30AG066509] and the National Institute on Aging (K01AG062681).