A Framework for Monitoring Elders with Underlying Medical Conditions Using Wearable Technologies: A Case Study of Non-Communicable Diseases
Loading...
Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a growing concern globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of disease is transitioning from infectious diseases to NCDs, which are also the principal causes of morbidity globally. Of the 97,600 deaths in Uganda in 2016, NCDs accounted for 1 in 3. These diseases are the leading causes of death worldwide, and carry a huge cost that extends beyond health and trap people in poverty. In all countries, the poorest and most vulnerable populations are those most at risk and the least likely to have access to the services they need to detect and treat NCDs. The evolving technologies therefore, have changed traditional health care into smart health care, enabling people to frequently monitor their health remotely, by adopting Wearable Technologies (WT) to track NCDs. This study was therefore carried out in Masaka City and Masaka District, with the overall aim of designing a smartwatch wearable technology framework that would aid in the application of WT in combating NCDs, among the elderly. The specific objectives of this research were: 1) to investigate the current health status of the elderly people in Masaka; 2) to find out the currently used technologies in monitoring the NCDs; 3) to design a WT framework and 4) to evaluate the framework. In the Ugandan context, there are no WT frameworks taken into account by medical personnel and their patients, which leaves a gap worth a research study. Although Ugandans have used SMS alerts to monitor patients, the technology is not dedicated to the elderly and has no capacity to consistently monitor elderly patients remotely. A mixed research approach, supported by the pragmatism philosophy and abductive approach was used to collect descriptive data, and adopted a cross sectional time horizon. Questionnaires were validated and approved by the Ethical Review Committee (REC). Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from a target population of the elderly who were 60 years of age and above, while the analysis tools used were SPSS and NVIVO. The Slovenes formula was used to compute the sample size of 388 elderly people from whom, data was collected using simple random sampling, Cluster random sampling and Quota sampling techniques. Interpretation of the qualitative data, was based on the themes, and patterns that emerged from the videos. The findings of the study indicated that majority of the elderly suffer from at least one of the NCDs, hypertension being the most common NCD at 86.5% of the respondents, and no registered WT framework in the area. It was concluded that, a WT framework was designed based on the gaps identified from previous studies and the UTAUT-3 model constructs, plus other additional features like language, confidentiality and information quality, to test acceptance levels of WT among the elderly for enhanced health care services delivery.