How could technology be used to facilitate domiciliary dementia care? Perspectives of people with dementia, their families and care providers

Many people with dementia would like to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible. This is often enabled by support from partners, family and friends (‘unpaid carers’). As their dementia progresses, paid-for support from domiciliary care workers may also be needed to help with practical tasks and personal care, as well as provide social and emotional support. Previous research has highlighted various challenges faced by families in initiating or organising home care, such as concern about loss of independence, feeling bound by inflexible schedules and experiences of poor care . This can lead to families not engaging with home care, placing unmanageable demand on unpaid carers. Conversely, domiciliary care workers face high levels of stress, long shifts, sometimes unpredictable hours and low pay; this leads to high staff turnover, making the future of home care increasingly precarious. <br/><br/>There is potential for technology to help address some of the problems in organising and providing domiciliary dementia care, by using algorithms to match care workers with families and enable more flexible scheduling. However, it is first essential to understand the needs and preferences of all those involved in receiving and delivering care. In this user needs study, we are conducting online and in-person focus groups in the UK with four populations: people with dementia, unpaid carers, domiciliary care workers and domiciliary care managers. By using vignettes of potential digital platforms for organising domiciliary dementia care to help guide discussions, focus groups are exploring the preferences and contextual barriers and facilitators of service users and providers. Findings will be used to identify and prioritise recommendations, including potential risks, for designing digital platforms to facilitate domiciliary dementia care provision.<br/>