AKTIVE Final Conference 2014: Technology, Care and Ageing: Enhancing Independence

On Tuesday 8^th April RAT Groups Lauren Powell, Dr Lizzie Coates, Dr Jo Nicholson and Sarah Gorst attended the AKTIVE final conference 2014: “Technology, Care and Ageing: Enhancing Independence.The AKTIVE conference series has focused on the impact telecare technologies have on older people who are prone to falls or who suffer from cognitive impairments such as dementia and also those who help support them at home.

Lauren Powell presenting the  Barriers to Telecare Project

 Lauren Powell presented the final results from the Barriers to Telecare project, led by Claire Bentley. A study that interviewed people who had either not been offered telecare, but may benefit from it, and those who have been offered the service and turned it down. Participants were asked about their opinions of telecare, what they didn’t like about it, and what messages they thought would be effective when advertising telecare to the wider population. Lauren said “it was great to listen to other people’s opinions on the study and really encouraging that the audience understood the participants views on telecare.”

 

Sarah Gorst presenting the "Think Aloud" Project

PhD student Sarah Gorst, presented the findings from her “Think Aloud” study, which was conducted with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients to test the validity of a newly developed home telehealth acceptance questionnaire. Sarah said “it was really beneficial to get some feedback on the study and the questionnaire. I found the conference really interesting, particularly finding out about all of the different projects which are funded by the Technology Strategy Board and the main findings which have emerged from their research so far.”

Dr Lizzie Coates and Dr Jo Nicholson presented a poster from the Mainstreaming Assisted Living Technologies (MALT) project outlining key findings from the project to date. Jo also delivered key message from MALT as part of the plenary session on the morning of Wednesday 9^th April.

Written by Sarah Gorst, Lauren Powell and Dr Lizzie Coates