Best Practice Guidance
Human Interaction with Technology in Dementia

Recommendations

Implementation of technology in dementia care: facilitators & barriers

Successful implementation of technology in dementia care depends not merely on its effectiveness but also on other facilitating or impeding factors related to e.g. the personal living environment (privacy, autonomy and obtrusiveness); the outside world (stigma and human contact); design (personalisability, affordability and safety), and ethics on these subjects.  This section provides recommendations on the implementation of technology in everyday life, for meaningful activities, healthcare technology and technology promoting Social Health.
Social Health Domain 3: Technology to promote social participation

Adaptive implementation processes are required to successfully implement psy-chosocial applications of technology in dementia care

Guidance

To successfully implement psychosocial applications of technology in dementia care, it is recommended to carry out implementation processes adapted to the context of interest and to adapt training materials socio-culturally.

Explanation/examples:

A qualitative study was performed to trace facilitators and barriers to implementing an evidence-based Dutch psychosocial support programme for people with dementia and carers with greater social integration and better cost-benefit ratio, the Meeting Centres Support Programme (MCSP), in Spanish-speaking countries. Among the potential barriers identified, the most relevant were associated with the lack of adapted training materials to the sociocultural context and the difference between urban and rural populations, particularly the access to populations living in remote areas.

It is therefore recommended that an implementation process be carried out that takes into account the characteristics of the region concerned, in addition to developing actions to overcome specific barriers, such as the creation of technological tools to offer the support programme remotely to provide access to the rural population. For example, as a result of this study, the ‘Introductory Online Course for the Implementation of Meeting Centres for People with Dementia and their Caregivers’ was developed and adapted for Spanish-speaking countries in the Spanish language (available at https://e4you.org/es/moocs/implementacion-de-centros-de-encuentro-para-personas-con-demencia-y-sus-cuidadores). The course consists of eight modules setting out the theoretical background and practical implementation steps in the preparation, implementation and continuation phase.

Also, to offer an alternative to the face-to-face caregivers’ programme included in the MCSP, the iSupport-Sp, an evidence-based training and support programme for caregivers of people with dementia, was developed in an online e-learning format in the Spanish language (available at https://learning.bluece.eu/). This platform aims to offer a support service for caregivers living in remote rural areas in Spain.

Type of evidence

Mauricio Molinari-Ulate (DISTINCT ESR7)

Qualitative study, online interviews, cultural adaptation, co-design

References

Molinari-Ulate, M., Vallejos, C.†, van der Roest, H., Franco Martin, M., & Dröes, R. M. (under review). Facilitadores y Barreras de la Implementación Adaptada del Meeting Centre Support Programme en Países de Habla Hispana. El Caso de España y Ecuador (submitted, under review).

Molinari-Ulate M, Guirado-Sánchez Y, Platón L, van der Roest HG, Bahillo A, Franco-Martín M. Cultural adaptation of the iSupport online training and support programme for caregivers of people with dementia in Castilla y León, Spain. Dementia. 2023;0(0)
https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012231165578

Useful links

Introductory Online Course for the Implementation of Meeting Centres for People with Dementia and their Caregivers:
https://e4you.org/es/moocs/implementacion-de-centros-de-encuentro-para-personas-con-demencia-y-sus-cuidadores

iSupport-Sp:
https://learning.bluece.eu/

Cultural Adaptation iSupport-Sp, access to publication:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14713012231165578