A Digital Life Story to Support Person-centred Care for Older Adults With Dementia Perspectives

A Digital Life Story to Support Person-centred Care for Older Adults With Dementia: Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives

Person-centred care can be supported when healthcare professionals access and actively use the information recorded in a life story. Active use of the life story can create security for a person with dementia and their carers. The written life story describes the person and their life experiences, which can define the person's identity. National guidelines for care and nursing in dementia and Blekinge's regional guidelines emphasise the importance of care and nursing for people with dementia, which should be given with a person-centred approach, where the life story becomes a tool for healthcare professionals. Research shows that a life story can be designed in several ways. For example, in book form, as a brochure, collage, memory box or electronically. The life story is also intended as a tool for healthcare professionals to create security and facilitate communication with the individual. As more and more older adults are using computers and tablets as assistive devices, and it is also becoming more common for healthcare professionals to use, for example, tablets as assistive devices in nursing care, the life story could be shared in digital form as an application and become a living document.

Overall aim: To test an application for the life story with the intention of supporting person-centred care for older adults with dementia and to test whether the application can replace the written completion document. Study I: Exploring the research area of the life story in digital form. Study II: Focus group interviews with healthcare professionals. Study III: Test the application, Min Memoria. Study IV: Observations on the use of the application.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Cognitive Impairment; Dementia
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Test of the application Min Memoria

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Helén D Dellkvist, PhD student; Phone Number: +46732313417; Email: helen.dellkvist@bth.se
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Peter Anderberg, Professor; Phone Number: +46734223736; Email: peter.anderberg@bth.se

Study Locations

• Sweden
  • Blekinge
    • Karlskrona, Blekinge, Sweden, 37179
      • Recruiting
      • Blekinge Institute of Technology
      • Contact: Johan Sanmartin Berglund, MD, PhD; Phone Number: +46455385471; Email: johan.sanmartin.berglund@bth.se
      • Contact: Peter Anderberg, PhD; Phone Number: +46455385436; Email: peter.anderberg@bth.se

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthcare professionals working in daycare center and residential care.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthcare professionals using a life story in daily care.

Exclusion Criteria:

• N/A

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

Healthcare professionals working in daycare center and residential care.

Device: Test of the application Min Memoria; Focus group interviews will be conducted to reach healthcare professionals' experiences using a written life story in daily care. Then, the information from the written life story will be transferred to the application, and the healthcare professionals will test a digital life story (the application) in daily care instead. Observation studies will be conducted to observe the use of the digital life story. What can be seen in the communication and the interaction, and in what situations is the digital life story used?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Healthcare professionals' experiences using a written life story in the daily care of older adults with dementia	Focus group interviews	From October 2023 - August 2024
Data on the use of a digital life story tool.	Explore the usability, accessibility and positive and negative effects on daily care. Data will be collected through a survey with healthcare professionals (participants).	September 2024 - August 2025
Observation when using a digital life story	Data will be collected through non-participant observations. Observing communication and interactions between the healthcare professionals and the older adults when using the digital tool.	September 2025 - December 2026

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Blekinge Institute of Technology

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 15, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 29, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 22, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 29, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 29, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 22, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia
• Other Study ID Numbers: BTH-6.1.1-0138-2023

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The data supporting this study's findings will be available on request from the corresponding author (Helén Dellkvist). The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: From when each sub-study is publiced and onwards.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No