Quality of Life for Carers Through a Person-Centred Technological Solution

Summary

This study is entitled Quality of Life for Carers through a Person-Centred Technological Solution, whose acronym is TechQoL4Carers.

The goal of this pilot study is to develop an innovative technological solution (TechQoL4Carers) to improve the Quality of Life (QoL), occupational balance, impact of care, self-management of health, and empowerment of informal caregivers of older people or people with disability. The main question it aims to answer is: Will the routine use of TechQoL4Carers platform have a positive impact on the daily life of informal caregivers? The study will examine these variables in a specific way: QoL, impact of care and burden, occupational balance, health self-management, and empowerment.

Informal caregivers will participate in a participatory process of development, testing and validation of the technological platform TechQoL4Carers. At the beginning and end of the study, participants will be asked to answer questionnaires to capture their perspective on the central variables of the study and on the utility and usability of the technology. Then, for three months, participants will:

* use TechQoL4Carers platform on their mobile phone or computer,
* wear the Xiaomi Smart Band 7/8,
* provide weekly reports of health and care related quality of life,
* and receive personalized recommendations and training materials.

At the end, they will also participate in an in-depth interview on the impact of the project on their daily activities.

Conditions

• Informal Caregivers
• Quality of Life
• Technology
• Activities of Daily Living

Interventions

DEVICE

TechQoL4Carers Platform

The TechQoL4Carers platform is a technological solution that has been designed and developed by the research team in collaboration with the end users. A website and a mobile application integrate the platform. The services offered are: summary of the person's state of health; training content, advice and personalised recommendations based on their situation in terms of quality of life, provision of care, occupational balance, self-management of health and empowerment. It also allows synchronisation with the Xiaomi Smart Band 7/8 activity wristband. The intervention has a duration of three months. Participants will use the services of TechQoL4Carers and wear the Xiaomi Smart Band 7/8 wristband on a regular basis. It is expected that caregivers will access and use the TechQoL4Carers platform, at least once a week, to answer the weekly questionnaire and they will consult, at least once a month, the training contents for self-care and for the provision of care.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Center on Information and Communication Technologies

  collaborator OTHER

• Universidade da Coruña

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Betania Groba, PhD · Universidade da Coruña

• Laura Nieto-Riveiro, PhD · Universidade da Coruña

• Javier Pereira, PhD · Universidade da Coruña

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-05-01

Primary Completion

2025-03-17

Completion

2025-03-24

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations