Facilitating the use of personal safety alerting device with older adults: The views, experiences and roles of relatives and health care professionals.

To explore relatives', community nurses' and general practitioners' perspectives and experiences in promoting Personal Safety Alerting Device (PSAD) use among community-dwelling older adults, we applied a qualitative study design. Altogether 15 focus groups and 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data-analysis followed the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. PSAD use was considered to be complex. Relatives and health care professionals are involved in a negotiation process comprising three phases: A) waiting for a critical event in the older adult's everyday life; B) introducing the idea of a PSAD; C) deciding on and supporting PSAD use. In conclusion, the actors involved in PSAD use should be aware of the negotiation process, which is complex, dynamic, iterative and needs time. While nurses play a crucial role, they lack sufficient knowledge for comprehensive PSAD counselling. The negotiation process could serve as an example for other technologies in the context of aging in place.

Involvement of the end user: exploration of older people's needs and preferences for a wearable fall detection device - a qualitative descriptive study.

PURPOSE: To explore the needs and preferences of community-dwelling older people, by involving them in the device design and mock-up development stage of a fall detection device, consisting of a body-worn sensor linked to a smartphone application. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 22 community-dwelling persons 75 years of age and older were involved in the development of a fall detection device. Three semistructured focus group interviews were conducted. The interview data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis with deductive coding. RESULTS: The mock-up of a waterproof, body-worn, automatic and manual alerting device, which served both as a day-time wearable sensor and a night-time wearable sensor, was welcomed. Changes should be considered regarding shape, color and size along with alternate ways of integrating the sensor with items already in use in daily life, such as jewelry and personal watches. The reliability of the sensor is key for the participants. Issues important to the alerting process were discussed, for instance, who should be contacted and why. Several participants were concerned with the mandatory use of the smartphone and assumed that it would be difficult to use. They criticized the limited distance between the sensor and the smartphone for reliable fall detection, as it might restrict activity and negatively influence their degree of independence in daily life. CONCLUSION: This study supports that involving end users in the design and mock-up development stage is welcomed by older people and allows their needs and preferences concerning the fall detection device to be explored. Based on these findings, the development of a "need-driven" prototype is possible. As participants are doubtful regarding smartphone usage, careful training and support of community-dwelling older people during real field testing will be crucial.