Technology in Care Homes: Key Points from our Topical Autumn Symposium
In November 2024, we welcomed Dr Michelle Heward (Bournemouth University) and Dr Patrick Stark (Queen’s University Belfast) to speak at our autumn symposium on Technology in Care Homes. Over 100 people attended the symposium, highlighting what an important and timely issue this is for those who support care home residents.
Technology for supporting interactions with residents
Michelle’s presentation focussed on a recent survey that explored how digital technologies have been used to support interactions with residents living with dementia in care homes. Their work was inspired by some of the changes in practice that happened in response to the Covid-19 restrictions. The 45 care home staff who completed the survey reported using a range of different technologies with residents with dementia. The most common technologies included smartphones and tablets; apps, websites and social media; as well as voice-control systems such as Alexa or Google Assistant. Others reported using robots and augmented/virtual reality, as well as ‘magic tables’, digital newspapers, and even Google Maps, which can be used to support reminiscence activities with residents.
Most respondents to the survey felt that there were benefits to using technologies with residents with dementia. In particular, they felt that the technologies could help to increase levels of interaction between residents and staff or relatives, and empower residents to maintain skills or identity. However the survey respondents also recognised that these were challenges to using digital technologies in care homes. These included residents being unable to use technologies without assistance from staff or relatives; staff and relatives being unfamiliar with the technologies; as well as a lack of good quality WiFi, and the high costs involved with buying technology.
Technology for educating staff on restrictive practices
Patrick’s talk focussed on how technology could be used to reduce restrictive practices in care homes. They worked with academic researchers, healthcare professionals, and care home staff, as well as people from various charities, healthcare trusts, and the Royal College of Nursing, to co-design a digital ‘e-resource’ to educate staff reduce their use of restrictive practices. In their initial evaluation, they found that use of the educational resource led to a reduction in the use of mechanical restraints (such as bed rails and lap belts) and environmental restraints (such as locked doors and windows) in care homes. Staff who used the resource also reported feeling more confident in their ability to use restrictive practice appropriately. This suggests that the resource helped staff to come up with alternative ways of keeping residents safe that placed fewer restrictions on residents’ freedom.
This e-resource was initially developed to educate registered nurses. However, the team hope that the resource will be useful for educating a wide variety of health and social care staff who support care home residents. Anyone who is interested in using the resource can access it here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://play.restrictivepractice.co.uk/__;!!PDiH4ENfjr2_Jw!GQEGuf2ZgY754sa9OmVTUDFk6eLGYSWSX13FF0KMtZ2Orm0LTq8v0QRwjIA4DKJwS_6yw_kLFP87oqX7cVfKe_Otdqx4sabE2w$
Key issues around the use of technology in care homes
An important issue that arose in the discussion after the presentations was about the difficulties that care homes face in finding the resources to support new technologies. In particular, the benefits that technology can offer often require additional staff time: either in supporting residents to use technologies, or through time spent in staff training. These costs can make the adoption of new technology seem unaffordable – especially with the additional financial pressures that care homes currently face. This is a reminder of how vital it is for researchers to ensure (and demonstrate) that digital technologies ultimately increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the care that they support.
There was also further discussion about how else researchers should be measuring the impact of technologies in their studies. Many people use ‘standard’ outcome measures that provide numerical ratings of thing like resident wellbeing or quality of life, or changes in behaviours. However, people felt that these should be supplemented with open-ended questions that allow staff, residents, and family members to describe their experiences of the technology in their own words. This could lead to important insights into some of the unplanned or unexpected issues relating to technology use.
Addressing important issues for care homes
A huge thank you to both of our speakers for their inspiring presentations on this topical issue. Thanks too as well as to all of those who contributed to the lively discussion on the implications of this work.
We aim to ensure that our events address issues that are important to those who deliver and receive care home support. So if you have an idea for a topic that you would like to see covered in one of our future events, then please let us know: [email protected].
About the author
Dr Laura Brown is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Manchester, and the current secretary and treasurer of the BSG Care Homes Research SIG. Her research focusses on supporting older people to live and age well, with a particular focus on those living in long-term residential care settings.
