What's in it for me? A retrospective cost-consequence study of a digital assistive technology.

Purpose Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia are significant causes of disability and dependency among older adults worldwide. The number of older adults with MCI and dementia is rapidly increasing. Research suggests that digital assistive technologies can help older adults to maintain their quality of life and participate in everyday life. By structuring the everyday activities with reminders and alarms, the digital assistive technology increases independence and safety and relieves stress and anxiety. This contributes to healthy ageing and prolonged living in their homes, also called ageing in place. The adoption and implementation of digital assistive technologies in health care are crucial to older adults, the informal caregivers and the healthcare staff. The informal caregivers' life situation is affected due to the older adults' symptoms of MCI and dementia, which implicates difficulties in managing their everyday life without support from their partners, children, or close friends. However, while health economic evaluations are an essential tool when arranging priorities in the health care sector, evidence for cost consequences analysis on older adults with MCI and dementia using digital assistive technologies is limited. The study aims to explore the benefits and effects of the informal caregivers' view, of "Memoplanner" on the older adults' activity, participation, health-related quality of life, and map-related costs to the provision of the digital assistive technology. Method The study is a retrospective cost consequences study. The sample is informal caregivers to older adults (55 years +) in a region in the middle of Sweden that was prescribed the time- and planning aid "Memoplanner" during 2019. Other respondents are prescribers within primary health care (i.e., occupational therapists) and consultants at an assistive technology center. The semi-structured interviews were conducted during fall-winter 2020 and transcribed verbatim. The interview data was analyzed with inductive reflexive thematic analysis inspired by Braun and Clarke (2006). The informal caregivers also answered a questionnaire assessing time management Tid-N, which is a scale developed by Janeslätt et al (2014). The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results and Discussion The study highlights the voices of the informal caregivers' thoughts and perspectives of their life situations with their relatives and the digital assistive technology. It extends the knowledge on both the needs and use of digital cognitive technology among older adults with MCI or dementia and how it affects informal caregivers in their everyday lives. The results are discussed in relation to the economy, the costs, and societal benefits. Furthermore, the results have practical relevance for the assistive technology organizations and prescribers working with cognitive digital assistive technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]