TABLE 3.
CONCEPTS AND THEMES DEVELOPED DURING PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION AND SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS OF PERSONS WITH MEMORY LOSS, FAMILY MEMBERS, AND STAFF
| Concept | Theme | Representative Quote |
|---|---|---|
| Context of Use | Resident Context | “...it does occupy his time. There’s not always something to do. I hate to think of him lying in his bed watching TV and just napping off and on. But this gave him something to think about and something to do.” (Wife, final interview) |
| “She was snapping along and dancing, and then there’s the part in the song where the drums kick in, and before that she said, ‘Oh here it comes.’ So she was ready for that. She was smiling, she was enjoying the song.” (Observer, 2-week observation) | ||
| Training Experience | “I think even this would be a fun group activity to do…. Imagine the engagement, the conversation that would come up. And the laughing...thinking about these old shows and music and everything…. Gather a group around, put it on the big screen, and all play it together, which would be great.” (Staff member, focus group) | |
| “Part of the reason that you would do it is because somebody provides a good motivation. This will be fun. Or, they give you a demonstration of how it works. Well, it could pique your interest a little bit.” (PWML, final interview) | ||
| Feasibility | “It’s geared more toward people who have very little memory impairment, or the least amount. Because they would know to go and check the iPad… then the other ones it’s all in how involved their family members are.” (Staff member, focus group) | |
| “It tickled my brain a little bit, and I had a good chance, in a way, because it was all during the 1940s. It was my time during the 1940s. And that was easy, cause I knew all the people that were popular then. And it just seemed real easy, it was fun.” (PWML, final interview) | ||
| Barriers to Use | User Barriers | “In order to see the [screen], she needed to sit up in her wheelchair. After a while she [said], ‘Oh, it’s kind of uncomfortable. I have to sit up to see the game’...then we stopped playing the game, because…her back was getting kind of uncomfortable from having to sit up.” (Observer, training session) |
| “They feel like fear is a barrier for utilization, whether it’s fear of playing or fear of getting an answer wrong, or fear of breaking the iPad, fear of losing the iPad. That fear is a barrier for playing the game.” (Observer, staff focus group) | ||
| Environmental Barriers | “I really would have liked to use it more than I did, but…we’re so busy around here. They have so many activities and I’ve got a big family. Eight of my kids live in town, and they’re in and out and taking me here and there.” (PWML, final interview) | |
| Memory Matters Influence on Outcomes | Social Engagement | “I would say the process itself, in the moment, when you’re doing it, was a social engagement You were laughing and you were looking at things, and you were complimenting them and saying good job.” (Staff member, final focus group) |
| “I guess I couldn’t say that it helped her like with her specific memories, or something like that. I do think that it helped her stay active and kept her mind working…making her think and interact and that was a good thing.” (Son, final interview) | ||
| “The staff liked one-on-one engagement with residents. They felt like it was a positive interaction. They also felt like they were able to learn more about the residents, just from when they remembered certain things. And sometimes when they remember certain things then they would…end up telling a story about it. And so that part was helpful for them.” (Observer, staff focus group) | ||
| “You know, it was humorous. We were humored by what we remembered and the old times and...people we knew from those times. And that was very nice for him. It was a very pleasant experience. I enjoyed it, too. And it did enable us to connect…in a way that we have not connected since before the stroke…it gave us some pleasant time together that we normally have not had after the stroke.” (Wife, final interview) | ||
| Reminiscence | “[The song] In The Mood, oh I get just hysterical almost. I just loved it…I was going to school at that time in the Union Hall…you could dance during the day if you wanted to. So there was a couple always dancing… with that song…and I’d stop and watch them, and listen, and it is fun.” (PWML, final interview) | |
| “And then we talked a little bit about [how] she grew up on a farm…. This came from my just asking her about when she grew up. It wasn’t anything that was stimulated really from the iPad other than I transitioned into it because she…remembered reading a comic.” (Observer, 2-week observation) | ||
| “One of the songs was by Buddy Holly, and that triggered them to start talking about when their plane crashed with all the musicians on it. The resident said to his wife, ‘Oh, I heard they’re re-opening the plane crash investigation.’ Then she said, ‘Yeah, it’s suspicious that there were so many people that died [of] plane crashes during that period of time.’” (Observer, training session) |
Note. PWML = person with memory loss.