Tech Links
Integrating Communication and Information Technology into Dementia Caregiving: The Movement towards e-Caregiving
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nicole Ruggiano, Ellen Brown, Juanjuan Li, Peter Clarke, Vagelis Hristidis, Lisa Roberts
Worldwide, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia (AD) have become the leading cause of disability, affecting fourt-four million people across the globe. In the United States, most people with AD live in the community and receive care by unpaid family caregivers. However, AD caregivers often experience depression, burden, and compromised physical health as a result of their intensive caregiving activities. Information Technology (IT) has been recognized for its potential in educating and supporting AD caregivers, while also improving efficiency and quality of AD care. Simultaneously, mobile technology use by older adults has increased over the past decade. This paper will review the current state of communication and information technology, identifying opportunities and challenges for developing effective technologies as society moves towards e-Caregiving, especially for disadvantaged caregivers, such as low-income, racial/ethnic minority, and rural AD caregivers. It will also report the most recent findings from the research program CareHeroes, a multi-functional smartphone and web-based app designed to educate and support AD caregivers. This study involved an alpha test of CareHeroes, where AD caregivers participated in in-depth interviews after using the app to conduct specific caregiving tasks. The data were systematically analyzed for themes. Practice, research, and policy implications are discussed.
Touching Robots: An Inquiry into the Social and Ethical Implications of Using Assistive Robotics in Elderly Care
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Madelaine Ley
Touch is constant in elderly care, but it can be easily overlooked because it occurs in seemingly insignificant activities like changing one’s clothes or washing food around one’s mouth. Through phenomenological analysis I argue that these moments are not devoid of value, but are events of non-verbal communication that have the potential to provide a person with a sense of ease and support. Soon, however, these instants of meaningful human contact will be replaced by human-machine contact. Relationships of touch are complex, and there are cases where the touch of a robot may be preferable to that of a human’s— people can be so biased, messy, and even abusive. However, the potential effects of drastic decrease in human touch in care work must not be overlooked. My paper investigates the possible social and ethical implications of using assistive robotics in long-term elderly care where touch is inevitable and routine, and urges technology developers and healthcare planners to further research the role of human-to-human physical contact in healing.
