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.