SENSITISE (optimiSing tEchNology’S contrIbuTIon to Social carE)

The number of people needing care is rising. At the same time, it is hard recruiting enough people to work in care. Technology is often seen as a way to help by freeing-up resources and improving care quality. But technology has not yet made care delivery or the experiences of people using or delivering social care better in widespread and predictable ways.

Technologies vary in features like how much they cost, how easy they are to use, and whether people need training to use them. How people feel about these features influences the chances of technologies being used and how useful they are. Understanding what people in social care like and dislike about technology is crucial for developing new products that meet their needs and help people making decisions about what to spend adult social care resources on.

There is a lack of comprehensive, trustworthy, data on what people who use and provide social care want from technologies. Without this information, it is challenging for the technology industry and social care providers to design effective products and make good choices, potentially limiting technology’s impact. Social care is diverse: different parts of the system have unique needs that influence how technology is used (and valued). This first in a series of projects focuses on care homes and care at home for older people. 

• Aims

  Our primary goal is to gather, analyse, and share information about the technology-related preferences and priorities of individuals involved in social care, including people who use services, workers and funders. We will use an approach called choice modelling. We aim to create a free-to-access database of these preferences, helping technology developers, care providers, and funders design and select products that better meet the need of people receiving care.

  Objectives

  1. Identify and engage stakeholders (including care home and homecare providers, staff, older people receiving care) and people interested in social care technology.
  2. Establish a diverse national panel to collect data from.
  3. Conduct choice modelling surveys with this panel.
  4. Analyse the results to inform recommendations for technology adoption and investment in social care.
  5. Maximise project impact by using theory to influence dissemination of findings

   

• Methods

  Our methods will be refined over time to keep findings relevant and useful for practitioners and ensure technology developers better support social care. 

  We will conduct choice modelling surveys (using in-person, online and postal methods) focused on specific areas of social care, such as care homes or home care. The project has five work packages (WP1-5) addressing the five objectives (O1-5):

  O/WP1 – engaging stakeholders in each focus area of social care (care homes and homecare services in this first cycle)

  O/WP2 – recruiting participants for data collection 

  O/WP3 – developing the survey methods for capturing preferences: this will involve refining the focus/research problem; the materials we ask people to choose from and how they are presented; making sure our planned statistical analysis approaches will provide trustworthy results and our overall approach is feasible. 

  O/WP4 – collecting and analysing data using choice modelling techniques and other methods

  O/WP5 – making findings accessible and useful and encouraging use and spread of results

  Patient and Public Involvement: The SENSITISE project has been developed with the NICHE-Leeds Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group, which includes friends and family, staff and providers of care home and home care recipients and Leeds City Council Technology Enabled Care working group. We will also include two care users and two practitioners on our project steering group, providing them with training to guide the project effectively.

   

• Planned outputs

  To ensure our research has an impact, is accessible and useful we will share our findings using an approach called “Knowledge to Action”. This involves tailoring how we communicate with different people based on their role in the social care system. Examples include academic papers, website updates, articles for carers and professionals, and briefings for policy makers.

  Our work will inform national and local policies.