Table 2 Overview of themes and subthemes illustrated with quotes per focus group section

Section 1: Exploration of perceptions on value of use

Section 2: Exploration of adoption barriers

Illustrative quotes

P14, Research, Postdoc (gerontology): “I can’t use what I don’t know exists. That’s the main problem I learned after conducting 105 interviews [with persons with dementia and care partners].”

P11, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “From the perspective of end-users, this is a product that I don’t know, that is unfamiliar… Product awareness is still largely inadequate.”

P2, Business, Company executive: “My personal opinion: Way too early. End-users don’t know that these products exist.”

P21, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “General practitioners don’t have an overview of all commercially available products. The same goes for nursing facilities.”

P4, Business, Software developer: “If care partners need it [GPS technology], where do they go? Where can you buy it? You won’t find it in a supermarket or media store! You first have to research it and if you’re not from this line of work, it’s hard [to find information].”

P14, Research, Postdoc (gerontology): “Some [persons with dementia and care partners] say: ‘I’ve read or heard about this, but I don’t know where I can buy these products. I guess online’.”

P18, Research, Project manager (gerontology): “There are certainly older adults that are good with technologies, which have smartphones. But there are some older adults that have no experience—that are technology skeptic.”

P13, Healthcare, Healthcare manager: “We are talking about the age group 70 plus, right? The next generation will be more familiar with these technologies.”

P16, Research, PhD student (rehabilitation science): “If it’s in the name, it has to work!”

P14, Research, Postdoc (gerontology): “If it [location] doesn’t work reliably, it won’t reduce care partners stress and burden.”

P22, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “When one enters an underground parking lot or a building, then you can often pretty much forget about location. The product has to be more than 150% reliable. If not, you can forget it!”

P22, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “It should be low maintenance… You should be able to locate immediately, without having to wait for updates. And if there’s a discrepancy of a few meters and I’m in the pedestrian zone and there are a lot of people around, it could be that I don’t find someone who is two meters away.”

P16, Research, PhD (rehabilitation science): “The location of two minutes ago might not be valid.”

P11, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “For the battery, there’s a signal notifying you when you are running low on power. Of course, the question is when you receive a notification. Because it’s totally annoying if the product starts to beep when you are alone. This might lead to more disorientation.”

P5, Business, Marketing analyst: “Geofencing is one aspect. I would program other intelligent functions, such as integrated temperature recognition. There are maybe other things at persons with dementias’ location that could active an alarm. So I would program intelligent systems.”

P7, Business, UX designer: “I would like a product that notifies me when my [fictitious] mom leaves her home without the product.”

P22, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “And then an emergency recognition, so that when persons with dementia fall down or stumble on something, that the system recognizes this.

P3, Business, Executive associate: “If I need a GPS product all day, maybe it won’t last all day. And cellphones [for care partners] either.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “How long does the battery last? Since our latest update, max two days…” [P4, Business, Software developer: “Max? Yeah, that’s a problem.”]

P10, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “A decisive factor is how easy the different functions are to understand… Regarding product functions, less is more.”

P12, Healthcare, Healthcare manager: “There is a person with dementia who lives in our nursing facility. He doesn’t leave the grounds without his fanny pack. If you could put the product in his fanny pack and it would still work, that

would be ideal.”

P16, Research, PhD (rehabilitation science): “Individual configuration... to set up a custom area ‘from this crossroad to here’.”

P9, Healthcare, Gerontologist: “I find it good that there are different functions, such as the emergency and two-way communication. But these functions should be individually customizable, looking at actual severity level and other factors.”

P3, Business, Executive associate: “What dementia severity does the person have? A one-size-fits-all product won’t work.”

P9, Healthcare, Gerontologist: “Persons developing the technology don’t involve end-users. First of all to ask: ‘What do you want from your product? What should the product look like?’”

P2, Business, Company executive: “Persons with dementia and care partners are not our primary market group.”

P6, Business, Company executive: “I think I’ve realized that we have to think a lot more from the perspective of end-users. This should always be the starting point and then think about hardware and so forth.”

P11, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “Most products are not aesthetically pleasing for females.”

P10, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “For the design, yeah, there’s black, but I would think of offering products in more colors. This should be possible.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “The products are too big! We would gladly reduce the size if the technology would allow it… The problem is that you need space for a better battery, for power, for… And so that it’s comfortable to wear, particularly if it’s to be worn on the wrist.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “Some products have security straps. But no one wants to walk around with such a thing!”

P1, Business, Company executive: “The biggest barrier is always the price.”

P10, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “There’s a cost problem at the moment. Can I afford this? Are there any additional costs once I use it? Products are simply too expensive.”

P8, Healthcare, Social worker: “Cost is a big factor. Do I purchase it or not for the last phase of my life?”

P1, Business, Company executive: “There’s no one here [in the other groups] that I know was involved in product development, right? There’s a big discrepancy. We could all say how products should be and what could be done. But you have to have the money to do this…you first have to have the money to invest.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “There are too many products that are not developed to the end.”

P11, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “Persons with dementia do not see that they need it [locating device]. At most, care partners recognize a need.”

P6, Business, Company executive: “I can imagine that my fictitious father might need such a product. But whether he sees a need? There might be no recognized need.”

P2, Business, Company executive: “No end-user purchases it out of prevention. All buy it because something has already happened.”

P8, Healthcare, Social worker: “It [using a locating technology] of course depends on dementia severity.

P5, Business, Marketing analyst: “I [care partners] might pragmatically get more involved with the [local] community.”

P21, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “End-users should be more involved [in research and development]. They should test products and then we will better understand what needs to be improved.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “We need the Charité and the German Alzheimer Society to come out with studies. Then there will be a bigger discussion.”

P2, Business, Company executive: “There are dementia severities, and then it’s always the question: ‘How long can I [care partners] let persons with dementia move about and use the product [without studies with persons with dementia with different AD severities]?”

P19, Research, Project manager (gerontology): “I can’t evaluate products as a lay person. Do I need it? Does it work?”

P1, Business, Company executive: “The technology is constantly changing. And those [end-users] who did test it three-four years ago… they had bad experiences. And if it doesn’t work on the first attempt: Next! Forget it!”

P19, Research, Project manager (gerontology): “As a person with dementia, I have my autonomy, I have my rights. I might not know that I am being located at a particular time. But for care partners, that’s really not a problem because they have a sense of security. There’s a big difference between medical professionals and care partners, where medical professionals say: ‘That’s an infringement on personal freedom’, and care partners say: ‘I don’t care. I have to know where [person with dementia] is!’”

P13, Healthcare, Healthcare manager: “There are also data security aspects, so basically the fear of being watched or controlled.”

P3, Business, Executive associate: “I think of tracking firms that collect large amounts of data, secretly collecting information on movement profiles… Do we reduce independence or increase security?”

• Unclear legal rights on location of others

P6, Business, Company executive: “We are very involved with this at the moment. How many movement profiles can be programmed and saved, under which conditions, etc.? This is a very difficult situation at the moment for all businesses involved.”

P15, Research, PhD student (gerontology): “There are a lot of decisions at the moment on what is allowed regarding locating others.”

P2, Business, Company executive: “Ultimately, it’s a legal problem with too many unknowns. Are we allowed to do this, to do that? This hinders commercialization. First get approval from a court of law. The external framework could be better. This is one of the main reasons why it [GPS technologies] has not spread so quickly.”

Section 3: Exploration of services and information dissemination strategies

Illustrative quotes

P15, Research, PhD student (gerontology): “A support that’s really tailored to end-users. Particularly to help set up and configure the product.”

P3, Business, Executive associate: “If I use it for the first time, I would like to have an installation assistance on how to use the app that I can maybe turn on and off.”

P17, Research, Project manager (health services administration): “That you really have an on-location support that also makes house calls to help one get started with the product.”

P5, Business, Marketing analyst: “Case-management service support… If I have a person with deficits, with a certain problem severity, then I can also offer other attractive service support features.”

P6, Business, Company executive: “…for example, that telephone numbers are listed on a website, that frequent questions such as ‘How to install the program’, etc. are provided.”

P2, Business, Company executive: “But these services have to be affordable and there are simply too many older adults that do not have the financial capacity.”

P10, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “At a minimum [for emergency situations], there has to be a hotline.”

P17, Research, Project manager (health services administration): “It’s important to have an emergency support call service that answers whatever question you might have.”

P6, Business, Company executive: “When an alarm is set out, because you have personnel changes every 24 h, you have to have a lot of people that do this [job]. Who does it on the weekends?”

P22, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “Support that is available 24/7…but this has to be financed. That’s also really expensive!”

P9, Healthcare, Gerontologist: “You could involve memory clinics.”

P?, Healthcare: “It would be really easy to involve medical supply stores.”

P17, Research, Project manager (health services administration): “I think that general practitioners should be involved because they are typically the starting point. There’s a trust-based relationship there.”

P19, Research, Project manager (gerontology): “There’s a pilot project in [German city], where the government has set up a counselling center also for technology for older adults…They can advise you there…You can go to them, but they can also go to you.”

P5, Business, Marketing analyst: “What we need is support from an established healthcare insurancecompany that creates a ‘service-support platform’.”

P9, Healthcare, Gerontologist: “But persons with dementia come here [memory clinic] at max every six months…”

P22, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “If my general practitioner talks to me about such products, I’d feel like they are trying to sell me something. I don’t go to my general practitioner for that.”

P19, Research, Project manager (gerontology): “GPs are saying: ‘What else are we also supposed to do?’ Who pays for this extra work?”

P19, Research, Project manager (gerontology): “At the moment, most products can be bought online. So there’s a lack of vendors with whom older adults can talk to. I think personal talks are extremely important.”

P8, Healthcare, Social worker: “I might see an ad for such a product and think: ‘Oh, that’s cool!’ But I still have no experience with the product. Experience is elementary. If I don’t have experience, I won’t use the product.”

P12, Healthcare, Healthcare manager: “For me, it would be a requirement that I can test the product first for two to three weeks without having to pay a big amount for this. Maybe a little fee, but not the entire amount.”

P16, Research, PhD (rehabilitation science): “For many, it’s important to be able to experience the product, to touch it, feel it. Maybe offer a trial purchase.”

P5, Business, Marketing analyst: “In nursing care, there are a lot of government care grants…different financial plans, how you can use these various services.”

P2, Business, Company executive: “We are trying to erase the word tracking.”

P3, Business, Executive associate: “We’ve replaced the word tracking with guardian angel.”

P10, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society (flyer-feedback): “And particularly in old age, the importance of remaining independent without sacrificing comfort and safety.”

P11, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society (flyer-feedback): “I prefer the description on this flyer. It’s simple and contains all you need to know. I see security, quality of life, liberty. The visual presentation is good, and the font size is nice and large. This other flyer is not directed toward persons with dementia, but rather only toward care partners.”

P19, Research, Project manager (gerontology; flyer feedback): “This picture is a no-no for the current generation of older adults.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “There have to be institutions. That’s why I’m here today… In the end, the Charité or similar is missing. The stamp from ISO does not suffice. When Charité or German Healthcare Ministry is visible, then there’s a completely different quality level that is achieved.”

P20, Research, PhD (medical sociology and rehabilitation science): “It could be a marketing problem… for example, that it’s not clear that it can be avoided that everyone sees my data and locate me. If I don’t know that, I don’t buy it.”

P10, Healthcare, Managing director of AD society: “This aspect [data security] has to be covered in product advertising.”

P16, Research, PhD (rehabilitation science): “I really think that there is a general lack of clear information on data security. It’s really important that data security is communicated and mentioned and that it’s theoretically possible for a third party to access data sensitive information. So that people know what to do in such situations.”

P5, Business, Marketing analyst (flyer feedback): “What I still don’t know is whether I have to take the watch off every day and charge it.”

P6, Business, Company executive: “Let’s say I receive a message at 4 am about my mother and this happens three nights in a row. I’ll be woken up and I can’t really help… What happens then?”

P14, Research, Postdoc (gerontology): “There are probably people that don’t check online for this [GPS product], but rather watch TV. So maybe use TV ads to multiply information.”

P22, Research, Research associate (gerontechnology): “I saw an ad in [free magazine with large older adult readership] about a high blood pressure product. I thought that was really good. A magazine that a lot of older adults read—not just persons with dementia and care partners. And the magazines are free. You can just take one.”

P14, Research, Postdoc (gerontology): “Maybe there should just be ads placed in pharmacy windows.”

P1, Business, Company executive: “I don’t produce million-dollar TV ads.”