[Information needs of family caregivers regarding new technologies for dementia care at home: A qualitative study]. / Informationsbedürfnisse pflegender Angehöriger zu neuen Technologien der häuslichen Versorgung bei Demenz.

Information needs of family caregivers regarding new technologies for dementia care at home: A qualitative study Abstract. Background: New technologies can support family caregivers in the home care of people with dementia but are unknown to many. To reduce the information deficit, the information needed by caregivers must be determined. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the information needs of family caregivers regarding new technologies for dementia care at home, taking into account experiences in past research and future information needs. Methods: Episodic interviews were conducted with eight family caregivers of people with dementia and analyzed according to thematic coding. Results: Caregivers used both media-based and interpersonal channels for technology-related research and made heterogeneous experiences. The researched information content and causes of research varied across respondents. The amount of available online information was a barrier in some cases. With regard to future information needs, the diversity of information channels and the quality of information are of high importance. Conclusions: The individual situation-specific needs of family caregivers must be taken into account in the development of new information and counseling services so that information deficits can be eliminated, and the potential of new technologies can be exploited in the home care of people with dementia. Further research is needed on the information needs of people with dementia.

Needs of people with dementia and their informal caregivers concerning assistive technologies.

Background and objective: Assistive technologies might be a suitable option for supporting people with dementia and their informal caregivers. To avoid "one-fits-all"-solutions and to design useful technologies, it is essential to consider the end-users' needs. The objective of this review was to examine the needs of people with dementia and their informal caregivers with regard to assistive technologies. Methods: We conducted a scoping review based on a comprehensive literature search in databases, handsearching, and free web searching. Additionally, we performed citation tracking of included studies. We included all types of study designs. Two researchers independently selected the studies. The results were thematically categorised by two researchers. Results: The search yielded 7160 references. 18 of 24 included studies were qualitative. The studies had been conducted in 13 different countries, mostly in Europe. The sample size ranged between two and 270 participants. Most of the studies involved people with dementia as well as informal caregivers. The analysis resulted in eleven themes. The themes could be assigned to three domains: "needed technologies", "characteristics of needed technologies", and "information about technologies". Conclusions: The results might guide future usage, development and research addressing end users' needs with regard to assistive technologies.