A Qualitative Assessment of an Ambient Display to Support In-Home Medication of Older Adults

Abstract

Studies on ambient computing technologies have shown their potential for assisting older adults to manage medications. However, their results cannot be generalizable, since they were conducted in different settings. We assessed the feasibility of a Medication Ambient Display (MAD) to improve the medication adherence of low-income Mexican older adults with mild-cognitive impairment (MCI). Through semi-structured interviews to 11 dyads of older adults and family caregivers who used MAD, we identified the effects of the setting conditions in the adoption and use of our technology. Our results showed that older adults forgot less to medicate. However, we observed that seniors have risky medication-related behaviors as a consequence of the challenges impose by our setting, such as the lack of adequate pharmaceutical policies regarding the rational use of medicines and the follow-up on patients’ medication regimens. We outline design implications for developing ambient computing technology to reduce drug adverse events associated with these challenges.

Keywords

• older adults
• assistive technologies
• medication adherence