Dataset Information

Exploring the Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use of a Personalized Web-Based Resource (Care Companion) to Support Informal Caring: Qualitative Descriptive Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Informal carers play an increasingly vital role in supporting the older population and the sustainability of health care systems. Care Companion is a theory-based and coproduced Web-based intervention to help support informal carers' resilience. It aims to provide personalized access to information and resources that are responsive to individuals' caring needs and responsibilities and thereby reduce the burdens associated with caregiving roles. Following the development of a prototype, it was necessary to undertake user acceptability testing to assess its suitability for wider implementation.

Objective

This study aimed to undertake user acceptance testing to investigate the perceived usefulness and ease of use of Care Companion. The key objectives were to (1) explore how potential and actual users perceived its usefulness, (2) explore the barriers and facilitators to its uptake and use and (3) gather suggestions to inform plans for an area-wide implementation.

Methods

We conducted user acceptance testing underpinned by principles of rapid appraisal using a qualitative descriptive approach. Focus groups, observations, and semistructured interviews were used in two phases of data collection. Participants were adult carers who were recruited through local support groups. Within the first phase, think-aloud interviews and observations were undertaken while the carers familiarized themselves with and navigated through the platform. In the second phase, focus group discussions were undertaken. Interested participants were then invited to trial Care Companion for up to 4 weeks and were followed up through semistructured telephone interviews exploring their experiences of using the platform. Thematic analysis was applied to the data, and a coding framework was developed iteratively with each phase of the study, informing subsequent phases of data collection and analysis.

Results

Overall, Care Companion was perceived to be a useful tool to support caregiving activities. The key themes were related to its appearance and ease of use, the profile setup and log-in process, concerns related to the safety and confidentiality of personal information, potential barriers to use and uptake and suggestions for overcoming them, and suggestions for improving Care Companion. More specifically, these related to the need for personalized resources aimed specifically at the carers (instead of care recipients), the benefits of incorporating a Web-based journal, the importance of providing transparency about security and data usage, minimizing barriers to initial registration, offering demonstrations to support uptake by people with low technological literacy, and the need to develop a culturally sensitive approach.

Conclusions

The findings identified ways of improving the ease of use and usefulness of Care Companion and demonstrated the importance of undertaking detailed user acceptance testing when developing an intervention for a diverse population, such as informal carers of older people. These findings have informed the further refinement of Care Companion and the strategy for its full implementation.

SUBMITTER: Turk A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6816311 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Exploring the Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use of a Personalized Web-Based Resource (Care Companion) to Support Informal Caring: Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Turk Amadea A Fairclough Emma E Grason Smith Gillian G Lond Benjamin B Nanton Veronica V Dale Jeremy J

JMIR aging 20190820 2

<h4>Background</h4>Informal carers play an increasingly vital role in supporting the older population and the sustainability of health care systems. Care Companion is a theory-based and coproduced Web-based intervention to help support informal carers' resilience. It aims to provide personalized access to information and resources that are responsive to individuals' caring needs and responsibilities and thereby reduce the burdens associated with caregiving roles. Following the development of a p ...[more]

PMID: 31518272

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Project description:BackgroundAdoption of a personal health record (PHR) depends on its usability and perceived usefulness. Therefore, we aimed to assess the usability and perceived usefulness of an online PHR used for medication reconciliation and to assess the association between patient-, clinical-, hospital-, and ICT-related factors and the usability and perceived usefulness at both the in- and outpatient clinics.MethodsA multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted with patients with either an outpatient visit (rheumatology ward) or planned admission in the hospital (cardiology, neurology, internal medicine or pulmonary wards). All patients received an invitation to update their medication list in the PHR 2 weeks prior to their appointment. One month after the hospital visit, PHR-users were asked to rate usability (using the System Usability Scale (SUS)) and perceived usefulness on a 5-point Likert scale. The usability and perceived usefulness were classified according to the adjective rating scale of Bangor et al. The usability was furthermore dichotomized in the categories: low (SUS between 0 and 51) and good (SUS 51-100) usability. Associations between patient-, clinical-, hospital-, and ICT-related factors and the usability and perceived usefulness were analysed.Results255 of the 743 invited PHR-users completed the questionnaire. 78% inpatients and 83% outpatients indicated that usability of the PHR was good. There were no significant association between patient-, clinical-, hospital-, and ICT-related factors and the usability of the PHR. The majority of the patients (57% inpatients and 67% outpatients) classified perceived usefulness of the PHR as good, excellent, or best imaginable. Outpatients who also used the PHR for other drug related purposes reported a higher perceived usefulness (adjusted odds ratio 20.0; 95% confidence interval 2.36-170). Besides that, there was no significant association between patient-, clinical-, hospital-, and ICT-related factors and the perceived usefulness of the PHR.ConclusionsThe majority of the patients indicated that the PHR for medication reconciliation was useful and easy to use, but there is still room for improvement. To improve the intervention, further research should explore patients' barriers and facilitators of using a PHR for medication reconciliation.

Project description:BackgroundApproximately 10%-15% of children struggle with different socioemotional and psychological difficulties in infancy and early childhood. Thus, health service providers should have access to mental health interventions that can reach more parents than traditional face-to-face interventions. However, despite increasing evidence on the efficacy of internet-based mental health interventions, the pace in transferring such interventions to health care has been slow. One of the major suggested barriers to this may be the health personnel's attitudes to perceived usefulness of internet-based interventions.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine health professionals' perceived usefulness of internet-based mental health interventions and to identify the key areas that they consider new internet-based services to be useful.MethodsBetween May and September 2018, 2884 leaders and practitioners of infant and child health services were recruited to a cross-sectional web-based survey through the following channels: (1) existing email addresses from the Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, course database, (2) an official mailing list to infant and child health services, (3) social media, or (4) other recruitment channels. Respondents filled in background information and were asked to rate the usefulness of internet-based interventions for 12 different infant and child mental health problem areas based on the broad categories from the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0-5). Perceived usefulness was assessed with 1 global item: "How often do you think internet-based self-help programs can be useful for following infant and child mental health problems in your line of work?" The answers were scored on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 3 (often).ResultsThe participants reported that they sometimes or often perceived internet-based interventions as useful for different infant and child mental health problems (scale of 0-3, all means>1.61). Usefulness of internet-based interventions was rated acceptable for sleep problems (mean 2.22), anxiety (mean 2.09), and social withdrawal and shyness (mean 2.07), whereas internet-based interventions were rated as less useful for psychiatric problems such as obsessive behaviors (mean 1.89), developmental disorders (mean 1.91), or trauma (mean 1.61). Further, there were a few but small differences in perceived usefulness between service leaders and practitioners (all effect sizes<0.32, all P<.02) and small-to-moderate differences among daycare centers, well-baby clinics, municipal child welfare services, and child and adolescent mental health clinics (all effect sizes<0.69, all P<.006).ConclusionsInternet-based interventions for different infant and child mental health problems within services such as daycare centers, well-baby clinics, municipal child welfare services, and child and adolescent mental health clinics are sometimes or often perceived as useful. These encouraging findings can support the continued exploration of internet-based mental health interventions as a way to improve parental support.

Dataset Information

Exploring the Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use of a Personalized Web-Based Resource (Care Companion) to Support Informal Caring: Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Exploring the Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use of a Personalized Web-Based Resource (Care Companion) to Support Informal Caring: Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Similar Datasets

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