A Qualitative Study of Family Caregivers' Technology Use in Alzheimer's Disease Care

The progressive neurodegenerative nature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) presents a significant burden to the individuals living with AD and their caregivers. It is reported that the majority of care is provided by family caregivers. This article examined how Assistive technology (AT) devices are used in family caregivers' daily care routines and the possible challenges with AT. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 AD family caregivers. Participants identified 27 varieties of technical devices in the five domains of safety monitoring, cognitive aids, therapeutics, communication, and remote care. The result reflects that acceptability, learnability, usability, and functionality of technical devices remain to be challenging. Family caregivers face a number of emotional issues during care process, and they prefer ATs with artificially intelligent assistant such as robotic. Further research in robotics is suggested based on these results.