Research examining Deaf older adults’ needs or experiences of old age care is scarce. This study aims to describe how Deaf older adults, supported by Swedish old age care, experience interactions and participation in everyday life and in social care situations. This study gives voice to Deaf older adults whose perspectives are rarely represented in research. To minimize misunderstandings, the qualitative individual interviews with Deaf older adults were conducted by Deaf signing research assistants. The results show that Deaf older adults face communication barriers due to a lack of shared language with their old age care staff, which may also pose health risks. Yet, despite the absence of sign language communication, participants described communication with those who help them as sufficient for basic needs, albeit limited. Furthermore, restricted community mobility contributed to sparse social contacts with Deaf peers, leading to social isolation and reduced social well-being.

Introduction: To address communication barriers, minimise social isolation, prevent psychosocial illness and increase the independence of Deaf older adults, a mobile care team consisting of Deaf assistant nurses using sign language was initiated and developed by a nongovernmental organisation in a region in southern Sweden.

Aim: To describe Deaf older adults’ experiences receiving support from an NGO-initiated mobile old-age care team for Deaf and sign language-speaking older adults in Sweden.

Methods: A series of 15 individual interviews with four Deaf older adults were analysed via content analysis.

Results: Support from the mobile care team was appreciated, as illustrated by the following categories: support in everyday activities, communication supported and enabled and support for psychosocial well-being. The care team facilitated communication using sign language. For example, they enabled in-depth communication and information sharing and supported older adults in expressing opinions and thoughts to authorities and regular care staff. Increased communication supported psychosocial well-being, independence, and feelings of safety.

Conclusion: A sign language mobile care team that is well familiar with Deafness as a culture rather than a hearing disability is highly valued by Deaf older adults in need of home or residential care later in life. It also shows that access to a sign language mobile care team leads to increased psychological wellbeing and happiness among Deaf older adults, as well as to their increased participation in decision-making concerning various aspects of their lives.

BACKGROUND: Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) affect up to 90% of people living with dementia and present significant challenges for individuals, relatives, and care staff, often impacting quality of life and care provision. Despite the high prevalence and fluctuating nature, BPSD are often monitored infrequently in routine care, limiting opportunities for timely, person-centered interventions. Digital tools that support frequent and individualized symptom monitoring may help bridge this gap.

METHODS: This study explored contextual factors, including barriers, facilitators, needs, and expectations, relevant to the potential implementation of Daily-BPSD, a digital tool designed to support individualized and frequent monitoring of BPSD in Swedish nursing homes. This participatory design study was conducted in two stages. Preparatory semi-structured interviews with disability care staff guided the initial design of the Daily-BPSD prototype, followed by research circles with nursing home staff and relatives. Data were analyzed thematically.

RESULTS: The analysis generated six themes: (1) implementation and adoption, (2) usability and accessibility, (3) communication and collaboration, (4) value for care and people with dementia, (5) training and support, and (6) the selection and interpretation of relevant variables to monitor. The findings were interpreted in relation to established determinants of technology acceptance, providing a structured understanding of factors shaping the anticipated adoption of Daily-BPSD.

CONCLUSION: Findings emphasize the need to align digital tools with everyday work routines, ensure adequate training, and address infrastructural conditions for reliable use. By outlining conditions that may enable or hinder daily monitoring of BPSD, this study contributes to the development phase of complex intervention design. It provides a foundation for further refinement and feasibility testing of Daily-BPSD in dementia care.

Purpose

To map and summarise the available knowledge regarding older adults’ experiences of team-based home rehabilitation.

Method

The Johanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines for scoping reviews guided the process. Eight databases, eight organisational websites, one registry and Google Scholar were searched. Searches were limited to publications published from 2006 to 2023 in English and Scandinavian languages. Data were extracted from the eligible publications using a data extracting tool developed for this study. Extracted data were condensed and coded into categories.

Results

Seventeen publications, conducted mainly in Scandinavian countries, were included. Older adults’ experiences of team-based home rehabilitation were identified and categorised as: home as a rehabilitation context; staff′s attitudes, approach and collaboration; the intervention process, content and outcome; and impact of the older adults’ own personal conditions.

Conclusions

This scoping review provides insight into older adults’ experiences of team-based home rehabilitation. Although the majority were positive towards receiving rehabilitation in their homes there were also negative experiences that need to be further explored. An identified knowledge gap in team-based home rehabilitation research is the lack of cultural aspects. Moreover, there is a need of consensus among researchers on how to report on population, context and content in team-based home rehabilitation.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION 

• The home as a context for rehabilitation is experienced as meaningful and valued by older adults
• When the home becomes a workplace, older adults’ sense of at-homeness may decrease
• If rehabilitation staff use the home as an arena for partnership, with respect for personal integrity, a person-centred process can emerge
• The outdoor environment is important to consider in home rehabilitation interventions

Purpose: Welfare technology (WT) intends to promote engagement in everyday activities and the well-being of older adults at risk of developing or already having impairments. However, its effectiveness depends on how older adults experience and interact with WT. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between various forms of WT user experience (perceived usability, perceived control, perceived value, perceived vulnerability) and engagement in everyday activities among older adults.

Materials and methods: Data were collected through a nationwide survey questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling.

Results: WT user experience accounts for a 54% variance in engagement in everyday activities, with the significance of these relationships varying across different forms of WT user experience. Our results indicate that perceived value and perceived control within the WT experience are significant predictors of engagement in everyday activities among older adults, with perceived value showing a substantial positive effect and perceived control demonstrating a significant negative association. Perceived usability and perceived vulnerability appear to have no significant effect.

Conclusion: Our findings challenge the common assumption in WT that greater perceived control leads to better integration into the everyday lives of older adults. Instead, our results indicate that higher levels of perceived control may not always facilitate engagement in everyday activities and may even hinder it. Furthermore, perceived value in WT experience is the most influential driver of engagement in everyday activities among older adults, emphasising the importance of positive attitudes and alignment of WT with independence and safety. 

There is growing interest in using digital technology like welfare technology (WT) to support older adults (aged 75+) to age in place, particularly in Nordic countries. This cross-sectional survey study (n = 414), conducted in 18 Swedish municipalities, used descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression to examine: user experiences related to satisfaction with WT, as well as users’ expectations and perceived needs for WT related to safety, independence, activity, and participation. Results indicate that appealing aesthetics, user involvement in WT-related decisions, and confidence in use are central to WT satisfaction, yet remain insufficient for many survey respondents. Survey respondents with poorer health reported lower fulfillment expectations for WT, and those with lower economic status expressed less fulfillment of needs. Moreover, the specific WT acquired by participants provided limited support for older adults’ daily activities and participation, pointing to an important area for future research to address. These results reveal a clear misalignment between WT outcomes and Swedish policy objectives, as well as broader digital policy ambitions across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The study highlights the need for targeted improvements to enhance WT’s usability and impact, which should be carefully addressed by policymakers, technology developers, and care providers aiming to strengthen aging-in-place strategies.

BACKGROUND: People with Parkinson's disease (PD) need life-long rehabilitative interventions to slow disease progression and reduce impact of the disease on daily life activities. To be sustainable for the individual, activities should have a positive impact on physical, cognitive and mental health, and should be appealing and meaningful.

AIM: To quantitatively evaluate the health-related effects of a 10-week dance program for patients with PD.

METHODS: A cross-over design with two groups. Group 1 undertook 10 weeks of dance classes; after that, group 2 began their 10 weeks of dance classes. Assessments of both groups at four timepoints (baseline, 10, 20 and 30 weeks) included physical tests and self-reported questionnaires to assess cognition, self-efficacy, well-being, fatigue, and health-related quality of life. The analysis involved comparisons of results after the dance and non-dance periods, for all instruments.

RESULTS: The analyses could not show any significant differences between the assessments after the dance period compared to after the no dance period.

CONCLUSION: Despite the lack of quantitative evidence of the positive experiences earlier described from focus groups, the study provided insights into how future research could be organised to better capture the multifaceted benefits. Furthermore, the study provides additional evidence that dance as a health-promoting activity in Parkinson's disease should be viewed in a longer-term perspective.

While research in the field of technology is surging, research on older adults playing an active role in designing and developing smart home technology (SHT) to enhance usability and adoption is lacking. It is important to co-develop products with potential users to better match their needs and desires. This study aims to generate ideas about SHT that can enhance the use and adoption of SHT that can support engagement in meaningful activities while ageing. The research circle methodology was utilized to elicit co-produced ideas for SHT and their functions with participants from different generations (30-39, 50-59 and 70-79 years old; n=9), together with two professionals with expertise in SHT and four researchers. The strength of research circle methodology is knowledge translation through the collaborative effort of participants. The findings revealed that the participants preferred SHT which can support independence, engagement in social experiences, and participation in meaningful activities while ageing, rather than smart home appliances or full home automation. Moreover, SHT which can create a stimulating environment to positively impact physical, cognitive, and psychosocial factors were highlighted. Some ideas generated were multi-purpose functions and a system that can analyze patterns for monitoring activities and prevention of disability or its progression. Non-technology support such as informal carers and neighborhood and community support were also prioritized. Our study highlights the benefits of collaboration among diverse stakeholders (older adults, informal carers, technology professionals and researchers) to generate ideas about preferences for SHT that can better support the needs and desires of older adults.

Background: Research involving current and future generations of older adults in the design of smart home technology (SHT) is scarce. In this study, current and future generations of older adults, professionals, and researchers together sought to identify user needs and aspirations for and related to SHT. The aim was to co-produce prioritized ideas for SHT solutions to support engagement in everyday activities in later life. We used a research circle (RC) process to elicit perspectives among members from current and future generations of older adults, professionals with expertise in SHT, and health sciences researchers. Over half of the RC members had no previous experience with SHT. RC members met three times at a live-in instrumented home environment equipped with some SHT. Using this data, we conducted a content analysis. Results: SHT solutions for stimulating engagement in everyday activities were among the prioritized ideas. Examples included digital reminders to support everyday structure (e.g., meals, medications), interactive games to stimulate cognitive function and promote social interaction, and exercise prompts to maintain physical health. For safety, a digital door control and camera system was suggested to provide reassurance during home visits. Sensor-based technologies were proposed for monitoring and enabling continued autonomy by identifying changes in movement that may signal the need for timely support. The integration of SHT solutions into familiar objects, such as household furniture, was prioritized to minimize disruption to routines. RC members suggested an SHT system, which can coordinate between the closest neighbor groups to outsource support in urgent situations. Conclusions: Future and current generations of older adults express needs and aspirations for SHT that integrates into everyday routines as people age. They prioritize SHT solutions that enhance engagement in everyday activities, safety, security, and social interaction.