Table 4 Themes and sub-themes with illustrative quotes

Use of AT

Staggered purchase and use of AT

we got things as, as she worsened [Participant 2]

Well as we got problems we found these technological solutions to enable us to continue to care for him at home [Participant 23]

Yeah. I, I got them, I think, gradually as Mum's condition progressed … I was trying to maintain her independence as long as possible [Participant 6]

Ease of using AT

I think it’s [electric bed], it’s much more help than, than anything else, no. I mean, we, we couldn’t … As I say, because she still can cooperate with using it [Participant 12]

I mean, I am very, I’m, I’m not au fait, au fait with it all but what I do know I’m, I’m able to use quite efficiently [Participant 4]

His own phone, he’s okay answering it and doing the odd text with one word. I, I, I’ve got to admit, though, his iPad has been beneficial to him [Participant 5]

Problems using AT

She would take it [pendant alarm] off from her neck and just throw it onto the settee which activated the alarm [Participant 14]

But there was, there was at one point the, the hoist that, it hadn’t charged and so he got stuck half-way [Participant 18]

[There is a]GPS tracker on her phone but after a while she forgot to, to take her phone with her, so when she went walkabout we had no idea where she was, and that was something that was really problematic [Participant 2]

Satisfaction with AT

Ability of the PwD

She’s got rheumatoid arthritis [Participant 15]

She’s got quite severe depression… She won’t come downstairs, she refuses, she won’t go out in the garden. She’s in that room and that is it [Participant 4]

She can’t remedy any mistakes that she makes. She gets very frustrated, she panics and then she presses all sorts of buttons and then calls us [Participant 14]

Problem solving

I’ve got a little key finder, which I call my mum finder, and I always take that out with us as well and slip it in her pocket or something, and again it’s on a lanyard so she will play with it, and it’s just more if we get separated [Participant 19]

What we did instead was use the pad, these pressure pads that you put under the seat, under the cushion. So as he started to get up out of the chair, it would, it’s wireless…the beep would go off and I could go and make sure he was okay. [Participant 23]

Well, I can, I can use it, but I don’t find any technology particularly easy. I’ve always got to sit and think through it, you know? [Participant 10]

Strengthened relationships

That [CCTV camera] has helped because, and obviously being able to see him, helps him because he thinks, yes, there’s people out there that care about him [Participant 23]

I think it’s [AT], it’s maintained a very close and stable relationship that was always there. It’s, it’s just experienced in a different way [Participant 7]

It [Youtube on tablet computer] has helped me and mum because instead of just sitting there keeping her occupied, and doing puzzles and, and chatting and watching, we’ve been able to do the tai chi [Participant 10]

Impact of AT on carers

Physical wellbeing

It affected me physically because I ended up having to either lift him up or help him into bed or get him into bed, or get him into a wheelchair, get him into the car [Participant 18]

I do a little workout routine with Mum in the morning to YouTube [Participant 19]

Physically, without that [electric bed and hoist] assistance, I could not have managed [Participant 13]

Mental wellbeing

‘…Zoom or WhatsApp or Skype have had a tremendous help, otherwise the impact would have been significantly greater’ (Participant 10, Daughter, Visits daily)

I can't begin to tell you what, you know, how much, how much, how helpful they [GPS tracker, movement sensor] were and how much anxiety they took away. [Participant 6]

I tend to use the technology for my own amusement at times [Participant 20]

Social wellbeing

It [Smart phone and tablet computer], it’s absolutely helped to sustain my social life [Participant 17]

Yes, it’s helped there [socialising] definitely…it does mean that one person can look after my dad at a time, rather than two people being there if you need to do lots of things [Participant 23]

We can communicate with our daughter and grandson in [city] via WhatsApp or anything and actually see them while we’re talking to them which has obviously made a difference if she does that [Participant 7]

AT use in daily life

Coping with caring

Yes, we wouldn’t be able to function at all without those [Electric bed; memory clock; pendant alarm] [Participant 11]

You know, when you have worked out routes for him to take, the length of time it takes him to walk [using the GPS tracker] and basically if he not back within that time then I, then I would have to go and see what’s happening [Participant 16]

I could go out more often, and maybe not going more than a quarter of an hour from home or something like that, so I could get back if a problem arose [find out using the CCTV camera, smartphone] or, or I could ring the next door neighbours and say, ‘Please go and sort her out’ [Participant 20]

Person with dementia using AT

He watches television which is good for stimulating him but he can’t use the remote control, so he relies on me to sort of get it all set up for him [Participant 11]

When she comes over to us in the evening then we will, do a Zoom or we’ll do a, a Facetime or, a WhatsApp with our children so that she can see them, but left to her own devices she couldn’t do it [Participant 14]

An internet device which calls my phone if she has a fall or if she wants to get in touch and she can talk to me over it. It’s [community alarm] becoming less and less useful, because she can’t do anything … she can’t go anywhere on her own [Participant 7]

Simple devices

We have a visual calendar in his, in his kitchen that we write things on that are happening and he really likes that [Participant 21]

So, my idea is to keep regular photos of the family where possible so that she’s aware of how they are changing and who they are [Participant 8]

The key safe outside, it means if at all necessary, if she forgot. Well, she wouldn’t know how to use it, but we would always have a key if, if we had to run up in an emergency or something, there would be a key there [Participant 10]

Wider support systems

Support from others

it’s [formal carer visits] a, it’s a safety net and it also enables mum to see somebody else [Participant 14]

I now have a private carer who comes to help me one hour in the morning Mondays to Fridays and one hour in the evening Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday just to give me a hand [Participant 9]

Even though there is a carer there as well moving her and doing a lot of things needs two people now [Participant 12]

Ethical issues

The [GPS] tracker, she doesn’t know what it is. I sneak it on her with her sunflower lanyard when we have to go in shops [Participant 19]

We didn’t tell him what it was for, we just said that there was a button on it that he could press if he needed us and it would ring on the phone here. But we didn’t actually tell him that we knew where he was going or that we could see where he was because he wouldn’t have accepted it [Participant 22]

I think personal security, personal secrecy worries me a little bit on that front [Participant 20]