Evaluating Technology for Independent Living: A Healthcare Perspective

This report delves into the crucial role of technology in supporting independent living within health and social care settings. It explores the application of assistive technologies, analyzing their benefits for both users and service providers, while also addressing the barriers to technology adoption, such as financial constraints and lack of skills. The report emphasizes the importance of health and safety considerations, as well as ethical implications, including data privacy and user consent. Furthermore, it examines the impact of recent technological advancements on service users, providers, and organizations, using case studies of individuals like Sally and James to illustrate practical applications and challenges. The report concludes with recommendations for optimizing technology's role in fostering independent living and improving the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

Supporting
independent living

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART-1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Role of technology to support the independent living of health and social care users..........1
1.2 Analysing the barriers in using the technology that supports the health and social service
users in living independently.......................................................................................................2
1.3 Benefits of the technologies for health and social service organizations and their users......3
2.1 Health and safety considerations of using technology in health and social care...................3
2.2 Ethical considerations related with the use of technology.....................................................4
2.3 Impact of recent emerging developments in health and social-care organizations...............4
PART-2............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Identifying the specific needs of an individual to support in living independently...............5
3.2 Recommendations to assists technology for independent livelihood of James....................6
3.3 Evaluating the usefulness of technology for users of health and social care service............7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In this modern era of world, Technology has changed the way in which people used to
approach their lifestyle. In the same way, technology has changes the way in which services are
delivered in the health and social care organizations. Therefore the technology have enabled the
health and social care service centres to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in work so as to
support the people with different form of disability in order to live more independent life. The
report will be based on the case study of a 42 year old women named sally who is suffering from
many healthcare disabilities such as numbness in foot, impairment of double vision etc.
Moreover, the study will help in understanding the use of assistive technology within the
health and social care services that basically supports the independent living of the people with
disability. In addition, recent trends in the technology and ethical considerations will also be
explored here. Also, the further part will be based on the case study of James who is 59 years old
suffering from many chronicle disease.
PART-1
1.1 Role of technology to support the independent living of health and social care users
Independent living can be referred to as a ability to perform the daily tasks without the
help of others. Therefore, various efforts has been exerted by the government as well as
advancement of technology to live a independent life (Baharin, Viller and Rintel, 2015).
According to the Foundation for assistive technology (FAST, 2001), technological tools or
equipments are provided to the disabled people in order to promote independent living among
the healthcare and social care service users. As per the scenario, sally is a 42 year old women
who was complaining about the tingling and numbness in her left foot. After approximately 2
years, she had a problem of double vision. Therefore in such situations, General practitioner of
sally advised her to use the assistive technology for such reasons. Assistive technology can be
referred as a devices or a special system which is designed to support and enable the older as
well as disable people to live independently. The assistive technology includes the powered
wheelchair, a moving stick as well as another equipments that assists technology.
In case of sally, in order to let her enjoy the independent life, there are various assistive
technologies which are available such as special keyboard, walking stick and a mobility device.
Such technologies help her to social life without any dependency on others. In order to allow her
to walk long distances ago, assistive technology provides a scooter instead of wheel chair (Baker
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and Baker, 2017). Along with this, in order to regain the mobility back, walking stick would also
be an ultimate option for her and this stick help her to walk at the shorter distances and doing the
day to day activities which includes the Going to bed, toilets, during cooking, ironing etc.
The government has promoted several equipments which supports the strategies applied
in the health and social care and this enables the people to live independently. So the government
have eliminated the problem of cost which is one of the most popular barrier during acquiring the
assistive devices at healthcare centres. Along with this, government have also supported the
equal employment opportunity plans for the disabled people as the technology can help such
people to earn their livelihood.
1.2 Analysing the barriers in using the technology that supports the health and social service
users in living independently
In order to provide the technology support for many disabled people in living
independently, there are various barriers that comes in a way. Such barriers include the
following:
Unwillingness to adopt use of technology: This can be one of the great challenge comes in the
way to promote the use of technology which supports the disabled people to live independently.
Most of the disabled people loses their confidence in using gadgets and also they are highly
dependent on the other people for their work (Bedaf, Gelderblom and De Witte, 2015). So in
case of sally, if she refuses to use such technology then it will be a great challenge to convince
her to adopt such technology in order to live life independently.
Financial challenges: This barrier may cause a person depend on others for the survival for the
rest of the life. As assistive technology includes tools and equipments which aids higher costs
into the treatment of the people. So many of the people are unable to pay such huge amount in
order to eliminate their inability with the use of expensive technology tools. In this case, sally's
financial inability restricts her to live life independently. However, healthcare practitioner of
sally helped her to gain benefit of the personal health budget provided by the government to
support the disabled.
Lack of skills to use such technology based equipments: This barrier generally raise due to the
shyness of the people about the assistive technology. In case of sally, GD had helped her to
educate about the use of the powered wheelchair or a scooter.
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1.3 Benefits of the technologies for health and social service organizations and their users
The use of the assistive technology within the health and social care service centres has
benefits both the users as well as service providers (Fischinger and et.al., 2016). All the tools
and equipments provided by the assistive technology basically helped sally to enjoy more
independent life and also to perform all the social work. The technology also helped her to
perform the job effectively. Various benefits of the assistive technology in making sally to live
independent live will be as follows:
 In order to enable sally to move freely or to gain the mobility, wheelchair and scooter is
provided to her.
 Another assistive functionalities within the computer system such as text enlargement
and text-to speech translation software helps her to compensate her vision impairment.
 Availing a walking stick also reduces the risk of falling in the home or doing other
socialise work.
 In order to enhance the communication, Assistive technology has provided the effective
software such as SKYPE in order to efficiently communicate with others.
Although, care providers are also benefited from the use of the assistive technology as tools
make the patients independent which reduces the burden on healthcare providers to help the
disabled people in doing regular activities. Benefits to the service provider are as follows:
 The care providers will find more time to operate more people who are in need of such
healthcare services.
 Assistive devices also supports care providers in reducing the burden to see every
individual personally all the time.
2.1 Health and safety considerations of using technology in health and social care
According to the health and safety Act, 1974, one of the major health and safety
consideration includes the safe environment within the hospitals and care provide centres. The
technology used in such types of facilities, may be administrate purpose or for purpose to support
the disabled to live independent life, but it cannot harm patients or service users (Grundy and
et.al., 2018). Therefore, in case of sally, assistive technology provider, has focused towards the
health and safety concerns. As equipment and system failure within the assistive technology may
be responsible for the malfunctioning or may cause a risk to the service users. Therefore, it is
very important to put a mechanism which do not cause any safety issues within such devices.
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Moreover, different health and safety measures which are generally considered by the
assistive technology specialist of the sally as case monitoring system is employed in order to
detect and ensures the fails within the equipments. Also the social care provider timely monitors
and ensures that the assistive devices used by the sally needs to be always in a proper working
condition. So as to ensure such health and safety regulations, healthcare providers generally
performs the regular healthcare check-ups. In case of the powered wheelchair, technician within
the health care centres so that malfunctioning can be avoided or eliminated at in order to promote
the health and safety at healthcare services.
2.2 Ethical considerations related with the use of technology
There are various ethical considerations in the use of the technology to health and social
care services (Lotfi and et.al., 2018). These practices are generally carried out to support the
independent living so it is very important to consider the ethical issues while treating the people
is healthcare centres. Such as privacy and security of the data and information which belongs to
the healthcare users as well as providers. Also, a proper monitoring of the user is also ensured in
order to prevent such ethical issues due to the use of the assistive technology. Because due to the
use of assistive technology, manual efforts are been decreased and therefore, physical presence
of the care provider is minimised. So in order to supervise all the activities at healthcare centres
proper CCTV cameras need to be entertained.
In addition to this, the patient need not to be forced or pressurised to use a assistive
technology or devices. All the things which are practised to improve the conditions of users
needs to be done before the consent of the users in order to maintain the ethical implications
within the healthcare services. In case of sally, she was facing multiple disabilities so, the
Healthcare practitioner has advised her to use assistive devices to deal with various work
independently. Along with this service user also need to be timely notified about any possible
violations which occurs at the health care services (Ruan, 2016). Although every activity and
movement of the patient needs to be monitored also, proper privacy is provided to the patient
when needed.
2.3 Impact of recent emerging developments in health and social-care organizations
Due to the advancement of the technology in the world, science has adopted to innovate
various technical tools in order to eliminate the manual work and replace it with the assistive
technology and tools. Therefore the recent technological developments in health and social care
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has not only affected the live of service users but it has also impacted on the organizations as
well as healthcare providers. Such impacts are as follows:
Impacts on health and social care service users
Recent technological development includes the remotely controlled care which have
reduced the efforts of the doctors. This has improved the timely healthcare check ups, diagnosis
and medications remotely. Therefore, such recent technological trends within the social and
healthcare centres enables the patients to be treated at home also.
Impacts on health and social care service providers
The advanced technological developments within the social and health care service
organizations had a great impact on the care providers. As assistive technology devices have
minimised the burden of the healthcare practitioners (Smith and Astell, 2017). Healthcare
providers train the patients to use such devices which have made all the disabled people
independent in doing their own stuff.
Impacts on the social and health care organizations
Social and health care service organizations are more affected as technology has made all
the work automatic. Therefore organizations no longer have to manage huge data and
informations of the staff as well as patients within their manual records. Along with this
technology has made it easier for the organization to search a particular record or information in
any emergency, then it would be easily found with a one click Within the system (Smith and
Astell, 2017). It have enhanced the efficiency within the healthcare organizations.
PART-2
3.1 Identifying the specific needs of an individual to support in living independently
James was a 49 year old man suffering from many chronic diseases so he had a severe
dementia due to which he is unable to remember anything. Therefore, the disease he is suffering
from was progressively damaging his brain and it was irreversible. So his need for the special
support will be increasing day by day and also this made him dependent on the others to take
care his health (Wojciechowski and Al-Musawi, 2017). It has resulted in impairment of the
memory and judgement which have damaged the ability to reason and learn anything and this
leads to the restrictions in interaction with others. This can be proved as one of the effective
disease which results in various symptoms and behaviours such as high stress level, declining
memory,difficulty in locating the objects as well as forgetting their own name.
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However, in this case, James need a proper care and emotional support which may helps
him to regain his worth as well as sense of identity. Along with this, there is a need to support
him personally and never let him feel alone whole day. Personal take care of the James such as
bathing, brushing, dressing as well as cooking will help him to stay busy in all such activities
may helps him in realising his worth (Baker and Baker, 2017). This disease is a chronic but all
such type of care will make him in living independently. Along with this, a close mentoring,
guidance and support will be provided in order to ensure proper living of the James which is at
risk in this type of situation.
3.2 Recommendations to assists technology for independent livelihood of James
There are various assistive devices in the technology which supports the James in living
independently. In order to control such unwanted behaviour of the James as well avoiding his life
at risk, there are various recommendations which should be considered to support his
independent living which includes the following: lost memory ability should be compensated
through the use of reminder devices which should be compulsorily attached to the body or
clothes of the James. Along with this use of hand held devices and personal assistant devices
should be provided. So that this type of assistive technology device reminds him of the timely
medications or every day activities.
In addition to this, alarm system and recording tool should be used to alert the family
member as well as health giver (Munin and Yu, 2017). This detector device will be able to detect
any negative situations and also controls the wondering behaviour of James and therefore this
assistive technology keeps him safe. Also there should be a alert device which will notify the
healthcare provider if James leaves the house. In order to presenting the lost behaviour, tracking
devices and smartphones should be provided which supports James in tracking the locations and
also this device help the family members and healthcare provider to trace his position or location.
According to the case study, James is also suffering from the diabetes and he was had
also once attacked by the heart diseases which cause him to be admitted in a hospital for over a
month. So in order to provide him emergency help, a device should be placed to support him in
emergency situations and this assistive device should be able to detect such emergency
situations. Therefore, in such type of situations, the assistive devices can easily detect and sense
the situation and also alert the family or care provider to detect the situation and care provider
will be easily get notification whenever James is in need.
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It should be also recommended that, in order to increase the mobility of the James various
sources should be provided which helps him to retain his cognitive abilities and skills. Other then
this assistive devices, James should also be supported emotionally as well as physically in order
and proper social and healthcare services should be provided to him in order to overcome such
difficulties and challenges in living a independent life.
3.3 Evaluating the usefulness of technology for users of health and social care service
Technology has various benefits to the user who receives the health and social care
services. The assistive technology helped many individuals with a disability to live ,ore
independent life. So the use of the assistive technology ensures various efficient work. This
technology promotes the self confidence and sense of in-dependency among their self attitude
and hence it promotes the growth of individual (Shih And et.al., 2016). The assistive technology
also used to promote the self management to those who need social and healthcare support are
basically empowered platform in order to seek help in managing their condition. Through
technology assistive devices, people with a long term diseases can be able to achieve mobility as
well as people will be able to live more independently.
According to the case, James would be able to live in his sunshine sheltered
accommodation and continue to live independently. Along with this, such devices help the James
to detect the uncertain issues and also these devices helps James to get timely notifications about
the such day to day activities and actions which the one have to be performed (Smith and Astell,
2017). As per the scenario, Due to the limited mobility and chronic Health problems, Assistive
technology would also help them to get proper consultancies and medication facilities which
helps him to concentrate on the things and also help him to regain his challenges.
Due to advancement in technology there are many devices or technologies that can be
used for patients like James who is suffering from dementia, type 2 diabetes, had a heart attack.
These devices are useful not only for the patient but for their social care services as well. There
are various kinds of tracking devices that can be used for dementia patients which will help them
to understand their location and reach home and will be useful for their social care service
providers to locate them. Likewise, there are many other devices that are useful for both patients
and social care service
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CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that advancement of technology have
promoted the use of the assistive devices. These devices allows the disabled people to live more
independently without the need of others. The report has explored the use of technology within
the field of healthcare centres in order to make the disabled people self dependent with the use of
the technological devices. It has also been explained that, ethical as well as health and safety
considerations restricts the healthcare users to live independently as it may cause various
problems to the users.
In contrast with that, recent emerging trends and developments within the healthcare
organizations are also explored. Along with this, the report has also consists of various
recommendations which supports the use of assistive technology at healthcare organizations.
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REFERENCES
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Intervention Model for Supporting Cognitive Performance and Physical Function in
Obese Seniors. Adv Obes Weight Manag Control. 6(5). p.00174.
Bedaf, S., Gelderblom, G.J. and De Witte, L., 2015. Overview and categorization of robots
supporting independent living of elderly people: what activities do they support and how
far have they developed. Assistive Technology. 27(2). pp.88-100.
Fischinger, D. and et.al., 2016. Hobbit, a care robot supporting independent living at home: First
prototype and lessons learned. Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 75. pp.60-78.
Grundy, J. and et.al., 2018. Supporting diverse challenges of ageing with digital enhanced living
solutions. In Global Telehealth Conference 2017 (pp. 75-90). IOS Press.
Lotfi, A. and et.al., 2018. Supporting independent living for older adults; employing a visual
based fall detection through analysing the motion and shape of the human body. IEEE
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Supporting Disabled Users: A Case Study in the Central Library, University of
Malaya. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social
Sciences. 7(12). pp.445-460.
Ruan, W., 2016, March. Unobtrusive human localization and activity recognition for supporting
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Computing and Communication Workshops (PerCom Workshops) (pp. 1-3). IEEE.
Shih, T.Y. And et.al., 2016. A Kinematic Study of Combined Robot-Aided Arm Therapy and
Constraint-Induced Therapy in Chronic Stroke. Archives of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation. 97(10). p.e47.
Smith, S.K. and Astell, A.J., 2017, September. Independent Living Functions for the Elderly
(IN-LIFE): Supporting Communication in Dementia. In AAATE Conf. (pp. 16-22).
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Wojciechowski, A. and Al-Musawi, R., 2017. Assisstive technology application for enhancing
social and language skills of young children with autism. Multimedia Tools and
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