Mobile Health Technology Is Here-But Are Hospice Informal Caregivers Receptive?
Veerawat Phongtankuel, Ariel Shalev, Ronald D Adelman and 7 others
PMID 29862851WHAT IT FOUND
Most caregivers of home hospice patients (62 of 80) said they would have been receptive to using an app, including communication, medication lists, symptom tracking, and caregiving guidance.
Concerns were security and usability.
Key findings
01Sixty-two of 80 caregivers said they would have been receptive to using a hospice mobile app.
02The features caregivers most often wanted were communication with the hospice team, access to patient care information, education, and updates or scheduling.
03Caregivers under 65 were more receptive than caregivers 65 or older, and common concerns were security and usability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 80 of 671 contacted caregivers completed interviews, and 365 could not be reached, so the views may not represent all home hospice caregivers. Unreachable caregivers were called mainly on weekday afternoons, which may have excluded people who could not answer then. Participants came from one nonprofit hospice organization in an urban area, so results may not apply elsewhere, especially rural settings. Caregivers who could not think of app features were prompted with examples, which may have shaped their answers. The study did not interview hospice patients, so their views are unknown. The study reports preferences and concerns, not tested app use or patient or caregiver outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding details are not stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that hospice mobile apps improve patient symptoms, caregiver burden, or care outcomes. This paper only reports what caregivers said they would have found useful; it did not test an app or measure outcomes.