Facilitating the use of personal safety alerting device with older adults: The views, experiences and roles of relatives and health care professionals

Friederike J. S. Thilo*, Sabine Hahn, Ruud J. G. Halfens, Birgit Heckemann, Jos M. G. A. Schols

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

To explore relatives', community nurses' and general practitioners' perspectives and experiences in promot-ing Personal Safety Alerting Device (PSAD) use among community-dwelling older adults, we applied a quali-tative study design. Altogether 15 focus groups and 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data -analysis followed the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. PSAD use was considered to be complex. Relatives and health care professionals are involved in a negotiation process comprising three phases: A) waiting for a critical event in the older adult's everyday life; B) introducing the idea of a PSAD; C) deciding on and support -ing PSAD use. In conclusion, the actors involved in PSAD use should be aware of the negotiation process, which is complex, dynamic, iterative and needs time. While nurses play a crucial role, they lack sufficient knowledge for comprehensive PSAD counselling. The negotiation process could serve as an example for other technologies in the context of aging in place. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)935-942
Number of pages8
JournalGeriatric Nursing
Volume42
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Falls
  • Home and community-based care services
  • Technology Independence
  • AGING-IN-PLACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • ACCEPTANCE

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