Usability of a Wearable Camera System for Dementia Family Caregivers

DOI

10.1260/2040-2295.6.2.213

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

6-1-2015

Publication Title

Journal of Healthcare Engineering

Volume

6

Issue

2

First Page

213

Last Page

238

ISSN

20402295

Keywords

Dementia, Family caregiving, Mobile health, Wearable technology

Abstract

Health care providers typically rely on family caregivers (CG) of persons with dementia (PWD) to describe difficult behaviors manifested by their underlying disease. Although invaluable, such reports may be selective or biased during brief medical encounters. Our team explored the usability of a wearable camera system with 9 caregiving dyads (CGs: 3 males, 6 females, 67.00 ± 14.95 years; PWDs: 2 males, 7 females, 80.00 ± 3.81 years, MMSE 17.33 ± 8.86) who recorded 79 salient events over a combined total of 140 hours of data capture, from 3 to 7 days of wear per CG. Prior to using the system, CGs assessed its benefits to be worth the invasion of privacy; post-wear privacy concerns did not differ significantly. CGs rated the system easy to learn to use, although cumbersome and obtrusive. Few negative reactions by PWDs were reported or evident in resulting video. Our findings suggest that CGs can and will wear a camera system to reveal their daily caregiving challenges to health care providers.

Open Access

Gold

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