The complexities of technology-based care

TY - JOUR

T1 - The complexities of technology-based care

T2 - telecare as perceived by care practitioners

AU - Eccles, Andrew

N1 - Article accepted. Will be advance access October 2013.

PY - 2013/10/26

Y1 - 2013/10/26

N2 - Telecare, which offers ‘care at a distance’ (Pols, 2012) through a variety of remote monitoring technologies, has developed rapidly across health and social care policy in many developed countries. Nonetheless, approaches to this development differ; the focus of this paper is the United Kingdom, where implementation has been particularly rapid and ambitious in scope. The paper argues that, while there are clear and tangible benefits from the use of some telecare technologies, there is insufficient research about the complexities of implementation with end users. These complexities include ethical questions raised by the use of monitoring and surveillance equipment, the ability to fine tune technologies to the needs of individuals, and the way in which care relationships may be altered by remote care mediated through technologies. This paper addresses these issues through a particularly under researched area; that is, the perceptions of care practitioners who assess for, and interact with, these technologies. The research was conducted with practitioners using qualitative research methodology. The paper concludes that Telecare practice is uneven in the way it addresses complexities and that more needs to be done to understand the way in which technologies are discussed and utilised by those charged with their implementation.

AB - Telecare, which offers ‘care at a distance’ (Pols, 2012) through a variety of remote monitoring technologies, has developed rapidly across health and social care policy in many developed countries. Nonetheless, approaches to this development differ; the focus of this paper is the United Kingdom, where implementation has been particularly rapid and ambitious in scope. The paper argues that, while there are clear and tangible benefits from the use of some telecare technologies, there is insufficient research about the complexities of implementation with end users. These complexities include ethical questions raised by the use of monitoring and surveillance equipment, the ability to fine tune technologies to the needs of individuals, and the way in which care relationships may be altered by remote care mediated through technologies. This paper addresses these issues through a particularly under researched area; that is, the perceptions of care practitioners who assess for, and interact with, these technologies. The research was conducted with practitioners using qualitative research methodology. The paper concludes that Telecare practice is uneven in the way it addresses complexities and that more needs to be done to understand the way in which technologies are discussed and utilised by those charged with their implementation.

KW - telecare

KW - public policy

KW - social care

KW - health care

KW - care technologies

UR - http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/iss/index

U2 - 10.5296/iss.v1i1.4464

DO - 10.5296/iss.v1i1.4464

M3 - Article

VL - 1

SP - 1

EP - 20

JO - Issues in Social Science

JF - Issues in Social Science

SN - 2329-521X

IS - 1

ER -