CareTek: Use of ICT by carers of people living with dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Use of ICT by carers of people living with dementia: what ICT do carers find useful, what benefits do they get from using ICT and what support with ICT would they value?
IRAS ID
290491
Contact name
Derek King
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
National Institute of Health Research, School for Social Care Research
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Carers of people living with dementia may face considerable challenges due to the of high number of hours of care provided and the cognitive decline of care recipients. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) including the internet, smartphones, memory devices and visual communication aids may be of particular value to people living with dementia and their carers. Our study aims to provide evidence on patterns of ICT use by unpaid adult carers of people living with dementia; evaluate effects of using ICT services on the health and wellbeing of carers; and develop an evaluation instrument to aid local authorities to assess technologies to ensure that they meet the needs of carers.
The study has three work-streams. Work-stream 1 consisted of a collaboration with four local authority (LA) teams and voluntary organisations to organise focus groups with carers and a workshop to discuss the use of ICT by carers.
Work-stream 2 will link with the DETERMIND study, collecting data from a sample of 800 people living with dementia and their carers. We will survey carers to ask what technology they use, for what tasks and whether they find ICT helpful. We then aim to interview around 30 carers to discuss in greater depth their ICT experience and to look at the relationship between ICT use and outcomes for the carer and care recipient such as quality of life.
Work-stream 3 involves working with our advisory group to determine practical ways in which our findings can be used to evaluate ICT. The aim will be to generate a tool for local authorities and voluntary and private organisations to help them evaluate ICT-based care services that they may offer or recommend to carers.
This SCREC application focuses on Work-stream 2.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
21/IEC08/0040
Date of REC Opinion
3 Mar 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion