Adoption of Digital Health Technologies in Supported Living Services

Peter Elimian

, Ceyda Kiyak

and Deniz Cetinkaya

Department of Computing and Informatics, Bournemouth University, Poole, U.K.

School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K.

Keywords: Supported Living Service, Health Technology, Health Care, Medication Reminders.

Abstract: The adoption of digital health technologies in supported living services has shown great potential to

revolutionise the quality of support offered to service users who are predominantly adults with learning

disabilities and mental health conditions. Despite these potential benefits, the adoption of these technologies

in supported living services remains at a low level. Therefore, this study aimed to address this gap by

investigating the factors influencing the adoption of digital health technologies in supported living services.

The research employed a mixed-method approach, conducting a case study in two local supported living

services with a sample size of six participants, three from each service. Analysis of the collected data, utilizing

both descriptive statistics and thematic approaches, revealed that 83.3% of participants acknowledged

widespread acceptance of digital health technologies in the services. Notably, 66.7% highlighted the

prevalence of health monitoring and assistive technology devices, including blood pressure monitors, blood

glucose monitors, mobility scooters, and virtual assistants. Participants attributed the positive adoption

environment to facilitation factors such as enhanced funding, training initiatives, and organizational support.

Furthermore, most participants emphasized the essential need for a medication reminder app, expressing a

preference for an easy-to-use and user-friendly design.

1 INTRODUCTION

Adopting Digital Health Technologies (DHT) in adult

social care services can revolutionise care delivery for

residents and improve their quality of living (CQC,

2022). DHT aims to improve health and care services

as well as health systems (NIHR, 2022). One crucial

aspect where DHT has shown significant impact is

supported living services, which accommodates and

provides some level of care and support to people

with learning disabilities and mental health

conditions (NHS, 2021). Similarly, adopting care

technology in supported living services can promote

independence of the residents and reduce care

packages, which would eventually result in

considerable cuts in cost for the operators. As digital

health technologies become more accessible, there is

a growing interest in their potential to enhance the

quality of care and promote overall health and

wellness. However, despite the potential benefits,

there are also challenges to adopting these

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9218-2248

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1047-0685

technologies. The National Health Service in the UK

(NHS) Digital (NHS Digital, 2022) stated that

digitally excluded people have higher risks of being

left out of health and social care services.

Consequently, there is a need for further research to

understand the factors that influence the adoption of

DHT in supported living services and to identify

strategies for successful implementation.

Supported living housing is a service or scheme

that provides individuals with disabilities, or mental

health needs the opportunity to live as independently

as possible in their own homes or shared living spaces

with appropriate support (NHS, 2021). People who

live in supported living accommodations are called

service users. According to Health and Care

Professional Council (HCPC) (HCPC, 2018), a

service user is anyone receiving the care or support of

a professional registered with HCPC. Also, supported

living accommodation involves a housing service

which comes along with supervised support or care.

Although there is a close relationship between care

homes and supported living housing, one of the

Elimian, P., Kiyak, C. and Cetinkaya, D.

Adoption of Digital Health Technologies in Supported Living Services.

DOI: 10.5220/0012631300003699

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2024), pages 181-189

ISBN: 978-989-758-700-9; ISSN: 2184-4984

181

primary differences is that supported housing aims to

promote residents’ independence. According to NHS

(2021), supported living services suit service users

who want to avoid living in residential care.

DHT refer to a range of devices and applications,

such as mobile health apps, wearable devices, and

telehealth systems, that use digital technology to

support healthcare delivery and improve health

outcomes (NIHR, 2022). Despite the digital

transformation agenda suggested by the NHS, which

advised all health and social care providers to adopt

the use of digital platforms and technology in service

delivery, the level of adoption of DHT in supported

living services is still at a low level, especially in the

aspect of medication management.

The purpose of this study is to explore ways that

will ease the adoption of DHT in supported living

services by analysing the use of DHT in supported

living settings and examining the case studies to

identify barriers, facilitators and impact factors. The

two main research questions addressed in this study

are: 1) “What are the guidelines for adopting digital

health technologies in supported living services?” and

2) “How can the adoption of digital health

technologies enhance the quality of care in supported

living services?”.

The scope of this research covers only the

supported living services in Bournemouth in the UK,

with specific consideration of two services used as

case studies. The supported living accommodation

considered for this study is the supported living

housing for adults with learning disabilities and

mental health diagnoses. This study focuses on

adopting DHT in supported living services from the

perspective of the support team, mainly the service

managers and support workers.

This paper is organised into seven sections. This

section presents an introduction to the problem

domain and overview of the study. Section 2 presents

the literature review and Section 3 provides the

research methodology employed. Section 4 presents

the data analysis and results. Section 5 proposes a

sample system design for a medication reminder

mobile application to be used in supported living

services. Section 6 and Section 7 present the

evaluation of the study and conclusions respectively.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Use of DHT in Social Care

Adopting digital health technologies has several

benefits to users and the health and social care

system, which became very visible during the

COVID-19 pandemic (NIHR, 2022). The use of DHT

has shown evidence during the pandemic, of giving

more people access to healthcare, improving health

outcomes of users, and increasing the quality of

health and social care system by rapid decongesting

of hospitals (GOV.UK, 2022b). One of the examples

of DHT adopted in the UK is telecare, e.g., the use of

digital devices such as personal alarms and

monitoring systems in adult social care to help

majority of residents manage risk and promote safety.

The use of telehealth gained wide acceptance during

the COVID-19 pandemic, with the NHS launching a

video consultation service using video enhanced app

like Zoom to reduce the risk of infection via physical

contact (Hutchings & Morris, 2022; CQC, 2022).

The remarkable growth in the use of DHT in the

UK has introduced technology-enabled care (TEC),

which is the harmonisation of telecare, telemedicine,

m-Health, and eHealth services (NHS, 2022). The

convergence of these services produces an integrated

care system that will improve the quality of care

delivered in health and social care. According to

GOV.UK report (2022a), the digital transformation of

health and social care is a priority. The report

mentions that some of the transformation goals

expected to be taken include providing a solid digital

foundation for health and social care by ensuring that

integrated care systems are digitally mature,

promoting the independence of people by digitalising

health and social care channels, facilitate the adoption

of trusted DHT devices across the board and

providing relevant regulations in places to help

integrated care systems reach full adoption.

DHT has been a core part of patient management,

as it has increased access to healthcare services and

helped healthcare practitioners communicate better

within the system (NIHR, 2022). Hutchings and

Morris (2022) state that 87% of the public and 94%

of clinicians favoured video consultation for

scheduling health and care appointments when a

digital maturity assessment was conducted in

Scotland. However, despite the several benefits of

DHT to the NHS, data privacy and security concerns

were also raised (GOV.UK, 2022b). Subsequently,

learning is one of the critical areas of using digital

health solutions in NHS settings nationwide.

Another critical aspect of using DHT in the NHS

is the electronic prescription service (EPS) which

reduced the number of unsigned prescriptions to

pharmacies in the UK (Franklin et al., 2013). The

introduction of the NHS app is another beneficial

digital solution launched in 2019. The NHS app has

received many credits for playing a significant role

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182

during the pandemic (Cassels, 2022). According to

the 2022 data, the NHS app had over 22 million users

and helped to manage over 1.1 million GP

appointments and generated over 140 million

vaccination passes. In addition, DHT has also been

beneficial in diagnosing and managing diseases

(NIHR, 2022). Also, evidence supports using DHT in

older residents to enhance their mental health in areas

such as fighting loneliness, promoting independence,

and improving moods (Leigh et al., 2020; NIHR,

2022). However, despite this benefit, there are

concerns such as low mood and fear of results from

using DHT which may become barriers to their use.

Another vital area where care homes have

implemented DHT is electronic health recording

(EHR). Using EHR systems across the UK showed

improved communications between care homes and

health centres, enhanced residents’ registrations, and

optimised access to residents’ health records (NHS

2022; Lapp et al. 2022). Another important aspect is

the use of assistive technologies. Sharif et al. (2018)

suggests that due to the ageing population in the UK,

many senior citizens in care homes require assistive

technologies to improve the quality of their lives.

Assistive technologies such as adaptive keyboards

and mobility aids benefit residents; and suggests that

user-centred research is vital in determining a

resident’s choice of assistive technology. Alzheimer

Society’s (2015) factsheet indicates that the

application of assistive technology in the care of

residents with dementia can help their daily living,

such as speech and cognitive functions.

2.2 Barriers and Challenges

DHT has been increasingly implemented in care

homes to support care delivery. These technological

interventions include telehealth, telemedicine,

telemonitoring devices, digital recording systems and

digital games for the residents’ leisure among others

(Shah et al., 2022). However, despite the benefits of

telemedicine and telehealth application in care

homes, privacy concerns and other barriers were

highlighted in the literature (McGee et al. 2020). One

of the main barriers to adopting DHT in supported

living services is the need for digital skills and

literacy among staff and service users. Cummins and

Schuller (2020) suggest that a low level of digital and

health literacy is a crucial barrier to adopting DHT in

health and social care settings. This issue is prevalent

among the elderly population in most cases. This

barrier could be addressed by providing training and

support for staff and service users to increase their

digital skills and literacy.

In addition, funding constraints, lack of IT

infrastructures, weak information governance and

interoperability issues have been highlighted to be

significant barriers to adopting DHT in social care

settings (Lennon et al., 2017). According to Vaportzis

et al. (2017), the complexity of operating most digital

health devices, especially with older residents, can

slow the adoption of DHT. Furthermore, ethical, data

privacy and security concerns are other barriers to

adopting DHT in the supported living service

(Whitelaw et al., 2021). This barrier can be addressed

by ensuring that DHT complies with data protection

regulations and that users have clear information

about how their personal information will be used.

2.3 Facilitators and Opportunities

Regarding the facilitators, user-friendliness and

personalised design to fit into users’ needs are

essential ways of easing the use of digital health

solutions (Whitelaw, 2021). Carrying out user

research before choosing DHT is essential as this will

promote the ease of adopting user-centred

technologies in social care.

Additionally, Tyrell (2021) highlights improved

funding as a primary facilitator because most digital

health solutions patients and residents use come with

a price. Therefore, proper reimbursement of clients

will encourage the adoption of DHT. Similarly,

Ainsworth (2021) mentions the need for accessible

funds to drive the digital transformation agenda in

social care and explains that NHS has set up a united

tech fund as part of the Who Pays for What (WPfW)

approach to fund social care players such as

supported living services.

Training programmes to upskill staff and

residents alike have facilitated the adoption of DHT

in care settings (Whitelaw et al., 2021). Adopting

strategies such as creating a robust IT infrastructure,

tackling interoperability issues, establishing a

practical framework for information governance can

help to increase the use of DHT in social care.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Data Collection

We adopted a case study mixed method approach in

this research (Yin, 2014). In this research, we also

adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

theoretical framework which models how users

accept, use and adopt a technology. We employed the

standard scientific research process that defines the

Adoption of Digital Health Technologies in Supported Living Services

183

steps for conducting research. This study was

conducted according to the ethical guidelines of

Bournemouth University in the UK. Two supported

living services in Bournemouth supported the study

at an operational level. Informed consent was

obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

3.2 Methods

The primary data collection for this study was done

using an online questionnaire distributed to the

participants from the support living houses via social

media platforms and emails after obtaining approval

from the participants. The online questionnaire was

designed using Google Forms as it is easy to use and

supports rapid analysis of responses at no cost.

Correspondingly, a mixed methods questionnaire

with 26 questions was designed to have open-ended

questions aimed at gathering qualitative data and

close-ended questions aimed at gathering quantitative

data. Combining qualitative and quantitative data

provides a broader and better perspective for a

researcher to delve into new insights.

After obtaining approval from the relevant

services, participants were provided with a link to the

online questionnaire between 25

March and 10

April 2023. The questionnaire consists of questions

about demographic information, the participants’

perceptions and experiences with DHT, the impact of

DHT on the quality-of-care delivery, medication

management, and the recommendation of features for

the design of a medication reminder app.

The convenience/purposive sampling method was

chosen for its appropriateness in capturing insights

from specific individuals within supported living

services who have direct experience with digital

health devices. Given the unique characteristics of

service users in supported living services,

predominantly individuals with learning disabilities

and mental health issues who require some level of

support from professional support workers (CQC,

2022; NHS, 2022). This targeted approach ensures

that the chosen participants possess valuable insights

into the impact of digital health technologies.

Table 1 shows the details about the participants’

roles. Eligibility criteria is as follows: participants are

above 18 years of age, they are members of the

support team, and they have worked with residents

that required digital support; the service must be

situated in Bournemouth, the UK and the service must

be regulated by the CQC (Care Quality Commission),

NHS or BCP council.

Table 1: Participants’ roles.

# of

participants

Role

Supported

living house 1

3 staff

members

Service Manage

Team leade

ort worke

Supported

living house 2

3 staff

members

Service Mana

Social worke

Support worke

3.3 Questionnaire Coding

In qualitative research, the purpose of coding is to

convert qualitative data into a convenient format for

analysis. A codebook is often used as an essential

component of this process, where codes are assigned

to each response option, and instructions are provided

on handling missing data and coding open-ended

responses. This study adopts a hybrid coding

approach which combines the deductive and

inductive coding approaches to analyse the

qualitative component of the mixed method

questionnaire results. The deductive codes involve

coding qualitative data around the themes drawn from

the literature review. The inductive coding uses

themes created from the answers provided by the

participants and can be used for qualitative and

mixed-method research (Swain, 2018).

4 RESULTS

The collected data was analysed by using a hybrid

approach combining statistical and thematic methods.

(Swain, 2018). The quantitative data was analysed

using statistical methods, while the qualitative data

was analysed using the thematic approach. To

simplify the analysis, the supported living services

have been assigned terms, with first supported living

service termed House 1 and second one as House 2.

4.1 Quantitative Data Analysis

The quantitative data was analysed by using Google

Forms’ inbuilt statistical analysis tool which

generates an immediate analysis of participant

responses. This section presents the quantitative data

provided by participants residing in House 1 and

House 2. Regarding the demographic information, all

six participants were over 18 years and females.

Among the participants, four of them have (66.7%)

more than 5 years of experience in supported living,

while two participants have experience ranging from

1 to 3 years.

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According to the results, four participants (66.7%)

acknowledged utilising DHT in their services while

the remaining two were uncertain. When questioned

about the reason for implementing DHT in their

respective services, participants selected the main

reasons being improving efficiency, improving

quality of care and increasing productivity. Figure 1

shows the presence of DHT and the motivation for

using it in their respective services.

Figure 1: The reasons for adopting DHT in the services.

Regarding the technology acceptance, 5 out of 6

participants (83.3%) agreed that service users widely

accept digital health technologies. This suggests that

there is no resistance to technology from the

residents.

After a thorough review of relevant literature, it

has been established that various classes and types of

DHT are being deployed in social care nationwide. To

better understand this, participants were questioned

about the types of DHT devices utilised in their

services as indicated in Question 7 and results are

shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Classes and types of DHT in supported living

services.

Regarding to the questions asking participants to

share any challenges they faced while adopting DHT

for their services and if they encountered difficulties

using DHT to improve care delivery, 66.7% of the

participants reported that they did not experience any

barriers during the process, yet they agreed that

certain factors have contributed to implementing

DHT in their services where they listed the specific

factors in the qualitative data. In terms of the quality

of care, all participants agreed that adopting DHT in

their services has significantly or somehow improved

the quality of care.

Participants were also asked how DHT is adopted

in their services and how it is regulated. They

reported that they are using NHS, CQC or council

guidelines. Most of the participants agreed that

guidelines were helpful and had a significant or some

impact in the adoption process. Participants were

asked questions related to medication administration

and regarding using a medication reminder system.

The answers from the participants revealed that all

participants administer four or more medications

daily and they do not use an app at that time. When

asked about missing or forgetting the doses or

medication, 5 participants reported this as a risk and

may happen rarely.

Participants were asked about their opinions on

the significance of medication reminder apps in

supported living services. Question 25 revealed that 4

participants (66.7%) considered it important, while 2

(33.3%) believed it is very important, as depicted in

Figure 3. Finally, in response to question 26, all

participants agreed that they have no concerns about

using medication reminder apps.

Figure 3: Level of importance of medication reminders to

the services.

Quantitative data from the case study from the two

supported living services has been compared to see if

there is any significant difference. There was not any

significant difference in the results but only a slightly

high acceptance and usage of DHT in House 1.

4.2 Qualitative Analysis

The qualitative data gathered from the study were

coded and analysed using the thematic analysis

approach. After generating the initial codes and

defining the themes, the qualitative data was collected

from patterns and trends in the participants’

responses. Then, they were arranged into themes to

align with the research questions, aims and

Adoption of Digital Health Technologies in Supported Living Services

185

objectives. There were 14 open-ended questions in

the questionnaire from where the data were drawn.

Participants were asked about the digital health

solutions currently used in their respective services

and the ones they plan on adopting. Codes identified

from the data helped to define the DHT Types theme

are listed below:

 Health monitoring devices: blood pressure

monitor, blood glucose monitor, etc.

 Assistive technologies: virtual voice assistants,

mobility scooters, electric wheelchairs, etc.

 Health information systems: electronic health

records (EHR), digital recording systems,

integrated health management systems, etc.

 Healthcare applications: phone applications,

online systems for residents, etc.

Positive Impacts theme was defined from the

responses the participants gave to questions 12 and 13

when asked to state how DHT has improved the

quality of care in their services and how it has

benefitted them. The answers were carefully

organised into codes to form the Positive Impacts of

DHT on the quality of care as below:

 Improved quality of life of service users:

improved safety and independence of service

users, reduced incidents of clinical

emergencies because of the effective use of

health monitoring devices.

 Increased operational efficiency: promoting

self-management of service users, service users

can take the lead in their support plan, resulting

in effective time management and cutting

operating costs.

 Increased productivity: using digital health

interventions ensures that workers can do so

much within a considerable period.

 Effective management of data: DHT such as

digital recording promote information accuracy

and effective data sharing within the care and

management team of service users.

 Enhanced person-centred support: the

deployment of DHT ensures service users are

supported according to their peculiar needs, it

promotes using the right digital solution for the

right person for the proper purpose.

 Improved collaborations with external

partners: The participants revealed that DHT

helps information sharing with relevant

partners as quickly and effectively as possible.

The participant’s responses to questions about the

challenges experienced during previous adoption and

those anticipated in future adoption (questions 9b,

14b and 19), and the personal contribution of one of

the respondents in question 20b, were coded and used

to form Barriers theme. Identified codes for the

Barriers to DHT adoption are as follows:

 Cost of DHT implementation: some services

might find the cost of implementing DHT

expensive, the need for sufficient funding to

purchase and maintain DHT.

 Low digital literacy among staff and service

users: some staff and residents may not be

familiar with the technologies.

 Resistance to change: some staff and residents

may be slow in integrating new systems and

may lack the motivation to use DHT.

 Data privacy and security concerns: staff and

residents may have reservations about the

integrity of the systems’ data and information

security, resulting in low motivation to use

digital health devices.

 Technical challenges: organisations may lack

robust information technology and software to

accommodate the flawless operation of digital

health solutions.

The participant’s responses to questions about the

facilitating factors to DHT in their respective

services, the essential guidelines, and best practices

for adopting DHT (questions 10b, 15 and 16) were

coded and used to form Facilitators theme. Identified

codes are as follows:

 Training for staff and service users: this

involves training for technicians and workers

reading the user or operating manuals of digital

devices, learning how to use the equipment.

 Supportive organisational culture: entails

management support, GP recommendations,

and local policy.

 Gradual integration of DHT: gradually

incorporating digital technology user-centred

approach, teaching workers how to use it best.

 Adherence to relevant guidelines: this includes

adhering to professional and manufacturer

guidelines, as well as local policy, professional

guidance, risk assessments, and GDPR.

The participant’s responses to questions about

their opinions about the guidelines and best practices

for adopting DHT in supported living services

(questions 15 and 16) were coded and used to form

Guidelines theme. Identified codes are as follows:

 Training programmes for staffs and service

users: ensuring staff members are trained on

using DHT before and periodically after use.

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 Assessment of user experience: before

implementing DHT, assess the users’ needs and

the site’s capabilities to ensure they are

compatible with the technology, introducing

DHT gradually with relevant staff training.

 Adherence to relevant guidelines: following

guidelines, local policy, and risk assessments to

ensure compliance with regulations.

 Ensure designated use of DHT: ensuring DHT

are used properly and only when necessary for

applicable users.

 Privacy and security compliance: Ensure

compliance with GDPR guidance and relevant

security procedures.

Finally, participants were asked to share their

desired features for a potential medication reminder

app in question 24b as part of the study's objectives.

Participants’ responses from these questions were

organised to form the codes below for the Application

Design theme, which were also used to develop the

functional and non-functional requirements partially.

 Customisable and flexible design: the app must

offer a function that enables users to enter and

modify their medication information by their

requirements, the app should provide users

with customisation options such as

personalised reminders and notifications.

 User-friendly interface: the app should be easy-

to-use, straightforward, and intuitive, making it

accessible to many users, the ability to create

and manage user profiles, calendar view of the

medication administration record (MAR).

 Responsive design: to ensure users can access

their information from anywhere, the app

should be designed to work effortlessly across

multiple devices.

 Enhanced data security: the app should have

robust security structures to secure user data

such as encrypted and other data protections.

4.3 Discussion

There were notable findings from the patterns

observed from the data analysis of the houses. The

data collected from six participants who have

working experience in their roles for at least one year.

This ensures that they understand the support needs

and support plans of the service users of their various

services. Therefore, the information they provided on

the questionnaire can be regarded as expert opinions.

The data analysis shows a broad acceptance of

digital health in the services, and the majority

(83.3%) of participants use at least one digital health

device in their services. Similarly, the result shows

that the main reasons for adopting DHT in the

services is to improve operational efficiency and

improve the quality of care provided. The data

analysis revealed that most participants know

relevant guidelines and requirements for adopting

DHT, and they follow recommendations from NHS,

CQC or local council, which is BCP in this case.

Finally, the results showed that participants are keen

to use a medication reminder application and they

find it important to supported living services.

5 AN EXAMPLE APP

Medication non-adherence is a significant problem,

leading to adverse health outcomes and increased

healthcare costs. Applying digital health solutions,

such as medication reminder apps, can help with this

problem. Mobile applications are the most common

type of medication reminder software, e.g. Medisafe,

Medbuddy, etc., which combines reminder

functionality with features such as medication

tracking and ability to communicate with healthcare

professionals (Corbett et al. 2021). However,

evaluations on medication apps show that the

complexity of multifunctional apps can be

overwhelming for some users.

In this study, a mobile medication reminder app is

designed to enhance medication adherence among

residents of supported living services. The app is

designed using the design thinking approach which

prioritises user experience in every step of the design

process. The app features a user-friendly interface

that enables different tasks, such as scheduling and

managing medication reminders, viewing existing

reminders for medication schedules, ordering, and

tracking medications from the pharmacy, customising

reminder tones, and accessing weekly medication

adherence reports. Potential users of the system are

managers, support workers and self-medicating

service users. We defined three user personas

accordingly. In this study, a use case diagram was

utilised in modelling the major features of the app as

shown in Figure 4.

We designed wireframes and an interactive

prototype as they are useful in presenting the scope of

the system functionality to intended users. They were

designed using the proto.io cloud-based prototyping

tool.

The design includes the onboarding screen,

authentication screen, menu screen, and screens for

setting up medication schedules, displaying

reminders, tracking progress, displaying service users

Adoption of Digital Health Technologies in Supported Living Services

187

Figure 4: Use case diagram for the proposed app.

(residents) profiles, and managing user accounts. The

design models are available upon request.

6 EVALUATION

The evaluation for this study was done by designing

evaluation forms to assess the written artefact by the

participants and doing a cognitive walkthrough on the

interactive prototype of the medication reminder

application. These steps helped validating the

outcomes of this research and collecting feedback.

The written artefact is designed to be a document

containing the findings and recommendations to ease

the adoption of DHT in supported living services. It

was sent to the two houses participated in the study

together with an evaluation questionnaire, which is

aimed at getting the participants’ observations,

reservations, suggestions, and recommendations on

the written solution.

The evaluation report from House 1 stated the

document being useful to the service, with a special

commendation on the study findings which revealed

from the comparative analysis of both houses, that

every house and its service users are different.

The evaluation report from House 2 indicated that

they are satisfied with the written artefact presented

to the management after due consultation with the

project supervisor. The management confirmed that

the study findings are true reflections of the reality of

DHT in the service. They also agreed that digital

solutions could promote independence and improve

medication administration and record keeping.

We used the cognitive walk-through approach to

evaluate the medication reminder app design. A

usability evaluation form was designed and sent to the

services with the link to the interactive prototype. The

evaluation form included tasks to navigate on the

prototype for different type of users and step by step

control sequence such as clicking buttons, entering

data, etc. The managements of both supported living

houses expressed satisfaction with the app design as

they found it useful to their services according to their

responses in the evaluation report.

7 CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study reveal that the use of DHT

and health informatics varies based on the service and

the service users living in the care homes. However,

this study also highlights the numerous benefits of

adopting DHT, including improved quality of life for

service users, enhanced operational efficiency,

increased productivity of workers, and practical

information management of staff and service users.

Providing guidelines and best practices that supported

living services could leverage can help with

promoting the adoption of these technologies and

tools. As a future work, a larger sample size of

supported living services and participants can be

employed to gather the perspectives and experiences

of more services which could increase the chances of

generalisation of the findings. Additionally, this study

focused on the inputs and contributions of staff

members only. Future research can include the

service users and other relevant stakeholders to

understand better the factors influencing the adoption

of technology in supported living services.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors would like to thank the two supported living

house residences in Bournemouth, the UK and the

participants who joined in this study.

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