Views on technology among people in need of health care at home

The aim of this study was to describe how people in need of health care at home view technology.

A qualitative approach was used based on qualitative interviews, followed by qualitative content analysis.

District nurses (DNs) from 4 health care centres in Northern Sweden had access to different kinds of distance-spanning technology with mobile devices and who used it in their health care at home. Persons in whose home the technology was being used were asked to participate in an interview. The interviewed persons were selected consecutively.

The results fall into 2 categories: (1) The well-known technology at hospital is new at home, (2) the new technology opens up possibilities but it also has limitations, with seven adherent subcategories.

The participants viewed the technology at home as something good and as something that could open up possibilities. At the same time, they placed the use of the technology in the hands of the staff which indicates some degree of dissociation from the technology. The importance of personal meetings between patient and caregiver was very clearly stressed even when distance meetings could be performed and accepted. The participants expressed immense trust in the nursing staff and considered them responsible for the new technology at home.