DiTSoW stands for “Digital Technologies to support Social Wellbeing of community dwelling older adults in receipt of social care and their carers”. Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire, University of Kent, and King’s College London have been studying if and how digital technologies are used to support the social wellbeing of older adults and their carers.
Background
The original DiTSoW study set out to explore how digital technologies were being used by older adults and people in social care, and to see if and how this was supporting social wellbeing. DiTSoW II builds upon the findings of DiTSoW. We learnt that there is a role for technology to support people with vision loss and people living with dementia live independent and connected lives. However, both groups have unique support needs for successfully adopting technologies and are at an increased risk of digital exclusion. Additionally, we found that the successful implementation of technologies requires a better evidence base and research capacity within social care.
DiTSoW II will have two workstreams.
- The first will work with the Vision Loss community and professionals in this field to gain a better understanding of the challenges and facilitators of digital technology use for older adult with vision loss, and conduct a priority setting for research, policy, and practice.
- The second workstream will work with a local authority using technologies to support people with dementia and run workshops with their social workers to build capacity in the collection and use of evidence.
The DiTSoW project has been running as part of the National Priorities Programme of Adult Social Care and Social Work, funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research since 2021.
This topic was selected as a priority area as digital Technology is being seen by UK governments and regional authorities as vital to a sustainable future of social care and they are keen to harness the power of digital technology to address the needs of their citizens with greater efficiency, speed and relevance. This has been acknowledged in the Social Care White Paper alongside investment commitments of £150m targeted at several key areas such as care technology, the development of digital care records, investment in infrastructure and cybersecurity, and a focus on improving digital skills and confidence across the social care workforce. Covid-19 necessitated an accelerated adoption of Digital Technology (DT) within health and social care and increased innovation and interest in this domain.
Initial scoping, by our research team, suggests that a primary emphasis in this field leans towards health orientated outcomes as well as applying DTs to monitor activity (e.g. telecare) and reduce the need for face-to-face input. This considers financial and provider orientated goals but may exacerbate rather than reduce service users’ social well-being, not least because it may reduce in-person contact. Social wellbeing is a contested term; in this study it is being considered in the context of social isolation, loneliness and social inclusion (i.e. meaningful participation and interaction within one’s communities). There is little evidence available around using DTs to alleviate issues related to social wellbeing, particularly for older people with dementia or vision loss, living independently in the community. Given known levels of loneliness and social isolation and the impacts of this on the health and wellbeing of individuals (as well as impacts on health and social care services), this is an area of adult social care provision that would benefit from further research.
For this study the definition of digital technologies has been kept broad to include:
- Everyday technologies such as phones, tablets, voice-controlled devices and ‘Apps’.
- Commissioned technologies that you may have through health and social care providers such as telecare and remote monitoring.
- Assistive technologies such talking clocks, screen readers or other visual, memory or physical aids.
Project Aims
- WP1: To support better understanding of the challenges and facilitators of digital technology use for older adults experiencing vision loss and to conduct a priority setting for research and practice in this field.
- WP2: To explore the effectiveness of Action Learning Sets (ALS) in mobilising knowledge and informing practice among social care practitioners on the collection and use of evidence related to digital technology use for people with dementia.
Project Activity
WP1: With the support of a lived experience and professional advisory group, and in collaboration with several vision loss charities, project activity includes:
- Four in-person workshops with older people (60+) who have visual impairment. These workshops aim to understand how they use (or don’t use) digital technologies, the challenges and facilitators, and how their experiences could be improved.
- One mixed stakeholder series of workshops to share the findings from workshops with people with vision loss and better understand the priorities for social care and social work professionals to successfully meet the digital technology ambitions of this population.
- A survey of older people (60+) with visual impairment about their technology experiences and priorities in this field.
WP2: A series of ALS’s will be facilitated with social work practitioners in relation to specific technologies being used to support people with dementia. The ALS’s will provide social workers with an opportunity to share and develop their knowledge of generating practice-based evidence and delivering evidence informed practice. The evaluation of these ALS’s will take the form of:
- Focus groups;
- Interviews;
- Reflective diaries;
- Short pre and post questionnaires
Anticipated or actual outputs
- Academic papers
- Briefing report for WP1
- Presentations at Academic and Practitioner Conferences
- Creative outputs, such as blogs
All dissemination activity will be conducted in collaboration with PPI members (e.g. through co-presenting and co-authoring).
Who is involved?
- Professor Kathryn Almack (PI)
- Dr Alison Tingle / Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire
- Dr Steve Owen/ Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire
- Dr Madalina Toma / Research Fellow, University of Kent
- Dr Chloe Waterman Research Associate, King’s College London
- A Research Advisory Group of 8 Older Adults
Contact:
