Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic
Objective As people living with dementia move into long-term care (LTC), their care partners face a difficult role change from primary caregiver to visitor, losing a significant degree of control and direct care involvement. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges with health risks, chang...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076251319820 |
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| _version_ | 1832087050098049024 |
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| author | Grace Hu Joey Wong Lily Haopu Ren Sarah Kleiss Annette Berndt Lily Wong Ali Hussein Nazia Ahmed Jim Mann Lillian Hung |
| author_facet | Grace Hu Joey Wong Lily Haopu Ren Sarah Kleiss Annette Berndt Lily Wong Ali Hussein Nazia Ahmed Jim Mann Lillian Hung |
| author_sort | Grace Hu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective As people living with dementia move into long-term care (LTC), their care partners face a difficult role change from primary caregiver to visitor, losing a significant degree of control and direct care involvement. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges with health risks, changing care home protocols, and government policies. To help address these challenges, this study aimed to investigate the experiences of care partners who used telepresence robots to maintain contact with and care for their loved ones during the pandemic. Methods This study was guided by the Collaborative Action Research (CAR) approach. Along with interdisciplinary researchers and trainees, our team included patient and family partners as co-researchers throughout the project. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 care partners who used the robots in five urban Canadian LTC homes between May 2021 and August 2023. Results Thematic analysis identified four key themes characterizing their experiences using the robot: (a) decreases care partner burden, (b) facilitates care partner–staff relationship, (c) creates relational autonomy, and (d) expands the scope of what is possible. Conclusion The results of the study suggest that telepresence robots can play a useful role in enhancing the caregiving experience for informal care partners in multifaceted ways. Care partners reported positive benefits of having the robot assist their virtual visits. However, further research is needed to determine the sustainability of robot implementation among diverse geographic regions and care home compositions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b8ce71779a8a431496dd8c06ef1611c2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2055-2076 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-b8ce71779a8a431496dd8c06ef1611c22025-02-06T08:03:39ZengSAGE PublishingDigital Health2055-20762025-02-011110.1177/20552076251319820Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemicGrace Hu0Joey Wong1Lily Haopu Ren2Sarah Kleiss3Annette Berndt4Lily Wong5Ali Hussein6Nazia Ahmed7Jim Mann8Lillian Hung9 Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada , Göttingen, Germany Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, Canada Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab, , Vancouver, BC, CanadaObjective As people living with dementia move into long-term care (LTC), their care partners face a difficult role change from primary caregiver to visitor, losing a significant degree of control and direct care involvement. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges with health risks, changing care home protocols, and government policies. To help address these challenges, this study aimed to investigate the experiences of care partners who used telepresence robots to maintain contact with and care for their loved ones during the pandemic. Methods This study was guided by the Collaborative Action Research (CAR) approach. Along with interdisciplinary researchers and trainees, our team included patient and family partners as co-researchers throughout the project. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 care partners who used the robots in five urban Canadian LTC homes between May 2021 and August 2023. Results Thematic analysis identified four key themes characterizing their experiences using the robot: (a) decreases care partner burden, (b) facilitates care partner–staff relationship, (c) creates relational autonomy, and (d) expands the scope of what is possible. Conclusion The results of the study suggest that telepresence robots can play a useful role in enhancing the caregiving experience for informal care partners in multifaceted ways. Care partners reported positive benefits of having the robot assist their virtual visits. However, further research is needed to determine the sustainability of robot implementation among diverse geographic regions and care home compositions.https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076251319820 |
| spellingShingle | Grace Hu Joey Wong Lily Haopu Ren Sarah Kleiss Annette Berndt Lily Wong Ali Hussein Nazia Ahmed Jim Mann Lillian Hung Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic Digital Health |
| title | Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Care partner experience with telepresence robots in long-term care during COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | care partner experience with telepresence robots in long term care during covid 19 pandemic |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076251319820 |
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