Telecare, telehealth and assistive technologies — do we know what we're talking about?

Abstract

The development of telecare services across the UK has been supported by grants from the respective governments of Scotland and Wales, and by the DH in England. New services are being established to sometimes operate alongside existing community equipment services and community alarm services. Elsewhere they are embracing a wider range of services including rehabilitation, intermediate care and health services designed to reduce the use of unscheduled care services. This paper discusses the difficulties in understanding the scope of telecare services, and the definitions of services that will need to be confirmed so that service users can choose appropriately if offered direct payments. Two different service models are offered, one of which uses telehealth as an umbrella term to cover all telecare, e‐care and m‐care, and telemedicine where the former includes all such services offered in the service user's home, including those of a medical nature. The second model views telecare alongside assistive technologies and telemedicine as one of three different technology groups designed to make people more independent or to bring care closer to home. There is significant overlap between the three groups, which justifies the introduction of a new term ‐ ARTS (assistive and remote technology services) ‐ to describe this area of support.

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“…There are studies on the use of computer activities with autistic children study [4,5,6] where they used computer language from drawings and logos as storytelling. These studies report that autistic children using computer-based exploratory learning systems can further attract the attention of these children, but there is a need for further experimentation to obtain concrete results.…”

“…Visual support is often used to teach children with autism disorder where photographs, activity tables, visual tables, or videos are particularly appropriate and stimulating for these individuals, and this is confirmed by both [10,12]. Progress in information technology has helped to integrate much of the aforementioned visual support, formulating the design of technology-based interventions for this population group [13]. These tools may help stimulate autistic children including the use of the Internet, robots, helpers, stimuli, iPods, computer-aided instructions, video, and modeling.…”

Identifying Motives for Implementing eHealth by using Activity Theory

“…Representatives from the governments as well as from the public and private health sectors have proposed that eHealth interventions are a possible solution to the current challenges [4][5][6]. eHealth is here understood as applications such as alarms and remote monitoring of care needs using information and communication technologies [7].…”

Landline and mobile phone communication in social companionship networks of older adults: An empirical investigation in Slovenia

“…When considering different purposes of communication through landline and mobile phones, the distinction between the feelings of being connected through frequent interpersonal communication and the feelings of being safe is relevant also in the context of different modes of e-care delivery, being an important source of social support offered by informal and formal carers to older adults. Since mobile phones and landline phones are essential components of many assistive technologies that enable care and health services [16], it is important to (re)consider the distinctive role of each of them in terms of the frequency and purposes of contacting different network members. While several ICT-supported services for practical support to care delivery have been recently developed, less attention has been given to the development of smart solutions for enhancing social interaction among older adults and family members as their informal carers.…”