Technological Applications Contributing to Relieve Care Burden or to Sleep of Caregivers and People With Dementia: A Scoping Review From the Perspective of Social Isolation

Abstract

The need for care will increase in the coming years. Most people with a disability or old age receive support from an informal caregiver. Caring for a person with dementia can be difficult because of the BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia). BPSD, including sleep disturbance, is an important factor for a higher care load. In this scoping review, we aim to investigate whether technology is available to support the informal caregiver, to lower the care burden, improve sleep quality, and therefore influence the reduction of social isolation of informal caregivers of people with dementia. A scoping review is performed following the methodological framework by Arksey and O'Mally and Rumrill et al., the scoping review includes scientific and other sources (unpublished literature, websites, reports, etc.). The findings of the scoping review shows that there are technology applications available to support the informal caregiver of a person with dementia. The technology applications mostly contribute to lower the care burden and/or improve sleep quality and therefore may contribute to reduce social isolation. The technology applications found target either the person with dementia, the informal caregiver, or both.

Keywords: dementia; informal caregiver; loneliness; sleep; social isolation; technology.

Figure 1

Simple illustration of factors; sleep quality; care burden and social isolation affecting informal caregivers of person with dementia.

Figure 2

Flowchart of the screening process of the literature (*, added via Snowball-method).