Towards the Development of an Integrated Care Platform for Frail Older Adults: Setting the Technological Priorities from a Stakeholder Perspective
Abstract
The present contribution reports on the preliminary findings from a series of 6 focus groups conducted to explore stakeholders’ attitudes toward the development of an integrated care platform to assist frail older adults. In the focus groups, older adults (n = 7), informal carers (n = 5), care (n = 6) and social (n = 8) workers, nurses (n = 4), health professionals (n = 7), were involved, for a total of 37 participants. Overall, a positive attitude towards the system was found from all stakeholders, but its effective implementation and use in daily practice would require a substantial cultural change. Results are discussed in light of future development steps of the care system. The activities described were conducted within the ProAct project, funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement No. 689996.
Keywords
Integrated care Multimorbidity Digital health Elderly FrailtyReferences
- 1.Mazzola, P., Rimoldi, S. M. L., Rossi, P., Noale, M., Rea, F., Facchini, C., & Annoni, G. (2016). Aging in Italy: The need for new welfare strategies in an old country. The Gerontologist, 56(3), 383–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 2.ISTAT. (2016). Indicatori demografici [Demographics indicators]. Available online at http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/180494.
- 3.EU Commission. (2014). The 2015 ageing report. Available online at http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/.
- 4.Lopreite, M., & Mauro, M. (2017). The effects of population ageing on health care expenditure: A Bayesian VAR analysis using data from Italy. Health Policy. In press, online first.Google Scholar
- 5.Comune di Bologna, Scenari demografici a Bologna nel periodo 2015–2030. Retrieved from http://www.comune.bologna.it/iperbole/piancont/scenari20152030/PRES_scenari2030versioneULTIMA.pdf.
- 6.Ministero della Salute. Piano nazionale della cronicità. Report no 0021622, 2016. Available at: http://www.quotidianosanita.it/allegati/allegato5885752.pdf.
- 7.Bayliss, E. A., Bosworth, H. B., Noel, P. H., Wolff, J. L., Damush, T. M., & Mciver, L. (2007). Supporting self-management for patients with complex medical needs: recommendations of a working group. Chronic Illness, 3(2), 167–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 8.De Raeve, P., Gomez, S., Hughes, P., Lyngholm, T., Sipilä, M., Kilanska, D., et al. (2017). Enhancing the provision of health and social care in Europe through eHealth. International Nursing Review, 64(1), 33–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 9.Zulman, D. M., Jenchura, E. C., Cohen, D. M., Lewis, E. T., Houston, T. K., & Asch, S. M. (2015). How can eHealth technology address challenges related to multimorbidity? Perspectives from patients with multiple chronic conditions. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(8), 1063–1070.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 10.Borrelli, B., & Ritterband, L. M. (2015). Special issue on eHealth and mHealth: Challenges and future directions for assessment, treatment, and dissemination. Health Psychology, 34(S), 1205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 11.ER Sociale (2016). Data available onli at http://sociale.regione.emilia-romagna.it/anziani.