Thesis: Patient safety and feeling of safety when telecare is used among home-dwelling older adults. A qualitative study
Johannessen’s thesis explores patient safety and feeling of safety when telecare is used among older adults in a municipal context. Torunn Beate Johannessen defended her thesis at the Faculty of Health Sciences (UiS) on the 10’th of Mars 2022.
The use of telecare devices in a home context is considered an important measure to meet an increased demand for health and care service requirements because of an increasing proportion of elderly people with chronic diseases and a future shortage of qualified healthcare personnel in the future. Telecare is the use of information, communication, and monitoring technologies that allow healthcare professionals to remotely evaluate health status, provide educational interventions, or deliver health and social care to patients in their homes. With the help of telecare, older individuals with chronic illnesses and impaired functioning shall better master their illness and everyday life and be able to live at home for as long as possible. In recent years, the use of telecare has been a major focus area in several Western countries, including Norway. Home-dwelling older adults are an important target - and user group of telecare devices and -services.
An important intention for the implementation and use of telecare is to contribute to increased patient safety and feeling of safety. However, there has been lack of research concerning patient safety and feeling of safety when telecare is used among older adults in a municipal context. Thus, the overall aim of the thesis was to contribute to more insight and knowledge regarding patient safety and feeling of safety when telecare is used among home-dwelling older adults, by exploring the perceptions and experiences of homecare professionals, managers, and older telecare users. The study had an exploratory, inductive design. In total, the participants had practical and/or administrative experience within a total of 12 different telecare devices. Data were collected using focus groups and individual interviews and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
The findings demonstrated how both technological, individual, and organizational conditions have importance for patient safety and feeling of safety in telecare use. Moreover, the findings revealed how patient safety and feelings of safety are promoted by functionalities related to the telecare devices. Moreover, the findings show that the enhanced feeling of safety from using telecare devices has significance to that home-dwelling older adults can maintain their activities and live more independently at home. Thus, the current thesis provides insight and knowledge on what feeling of safety from using telecare devices mean for older adults who use the technologies in their everyday lives.
Torunn Beate Johannessen (48) was born in Bergen and now lives in Stavanger. She is a Registered nurse and holds a master’s degree in Societal safety. She is now employed as an Associate professor at the University of Stavanger.
Main supervisor:
Anne Lise Holm, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
Co- supervisor:
Marianne Storm, University of Stavanger, Norway
