Table 1.
Summary of the studies (n = 7).
| References | Study design | Sample | Demographics | Population | Control | Aim/objectives | Other | Assessments | Conclusions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1) | Arighi et al. (7) | Cross sectional/ Longitudinal |
108 (>70 years) | 51.4% with successful televisit 41.2% male with failed televisit |
Patients from the Alzheimer's Center of the Fondazione IRCCS (Italy) | No control | To examine the issues with access to/use of digital technology (i.e. digital divide) in older adults with dementia contacted through videoconferencing | Remote neurologist consults/ interviews, MMSE |
68.5% (74 patients) successfully connected via televisit 31.5% (34 patients) failed to respond to the televisit Failure to respond to televisiting due to connection difficulties do not access to devices/Internet Presence of young caregiver significantly influences televisit success (p <0.001, OR 5.14). |
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| 2) | Iyer et al. (8) | Longitudinal | 43 (Mage = 85.5 years) | 72.1% had degree of cognitive impairment | Older adults that receive services from an academic outpatient geriatrics clinic (USA) | No control | To examine the feasibility and acceptability of telemedicine visits in clinic serving older adults with a high proportion of cognitive impairment | Face-to-face or phone calls interviews 7-question optional experience survey for patients or caregivers 4-question survey for clinical providers | Patients and clinicians responses did not differ in similarity of in-person visit (p =0.999). Patients indicated greater comfort with using video or telephone visits in the future Telemedicine services are appreciated for frail, older adults |
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| 3) | Lai et al. (3) | Longitudinal | 60 [30 control and 30 intervention] Mage patients with NCD = 72.73 ± 0.84 years) (Mage Caregivers = 71.83 ± 0.80 years | 21 patients in the control group received between 4- 8 hours of support by family, 9 received > 8 hours of support 15 patients in the intervention group received between 4- 8 hours of support by family, 15 received > 8 hours of support |
Convenience sample of community-dwelling people with cognitive impairment and spousal caregivers through an activity day center for older adults (China) | Control | To evaluate the extent to which both telehealth videoconferencing and regular telephone calls would provide benefits to older adults with NCD and their caregivers during COVID-19 | Older adults with NCD presenting with major physical disabilities, such as strokes were excluded |
Weekly telephone calls/ Weekly health services via Zoom, WhatsApp, or Facetime. Validated Chinese versions of MoCA, RMBPC, QoL-AD SF-36v2; ZBI scale, RCSES | Additional telemedicine had a significant impact halting the reduction of MoCA scores that was shown in the telephone-only group (η2 = 0.50). Improvements in physical and mental health of caregivers in the video-conferencing group but not telephone-only (η2 = 0.23–0.51). |
| 4) | Goodman- Casanova et al. (9) | Cross-sectional Survey Part of a larger RCT |
93 (Mage = 73.34 years) | 65% of the sample were women 74% were living with other people |
Community dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairment/mild dementia recruited through convenience sample by the Biomedical Research institute of Malaga (Spain) | Control | To explore the impact of confinement on the health and well-being of community-dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia To provide television-based and telephone-based health and social support To evaluate a television-based technology for older adults with various forms of cognitive decline |
Older adults with a score of > 11 on the GDS, terminal illness, and Individuals with cognitive, visual, motor conditions that could affect the system were excluded. | GDS MMSE Telephone based survey with open ended (qualitative) and numerically based (quantitative) questions administered by health professionals | No significant differences between intervention and control groups across all study variables (p > 0.05) Participants with TV-AssistDem did perform more memory exercises than the control group (p <0.001). |
| 5) | Zeghari et al. (10) | Observational cross-over | 8 (Mage = 76.7 years) | 4 men; 4 women | Community dwelling participants that are socially isolated (France) | No control | To evaluate the feasibility and reliability of mobile unit settings for remote cognitive testing | Individuals with significant vision and auditory problems which would impact ability to perceive and understand the clinician were excluded | Short clinical interview, cognitive screening tests, Acceptability scale, Two versions of MMSE, FAB, 5 words: 5 mots de Dubois; SVF; PVF; DS | No significant differences between in-person testing vs mobile testing (ps = 0.115–1) Acceptability scores revealed that all participants found the MU easy to access and as comfortable ass being face-to-face |
| 6) | Gately et al. (11) | Cross-Sectional | 24 (rangeage = 45 - ≥ 75) | Veterans with dementia (100% Male) All participants were white. One caregiver had prior experience with teleconferencing services for dementia management, all caregivers had experience with video conferencing |
Community-dwelling caregivers of Veterans with Dementia (USA) | No control | To evaluate the role of in-home video telehealth technologies to meet the needs of caregivers and persons with dementia To identify strategies to adapt in-home video telehealth services | Semi-structured qualitative interviews (approx. 20 minutes long) | Caregivers describe that telehealth services can be beneficial as a follow-up service Caregivers propose that one barrier technological implementation for older adults with dementia is that they may have limited ability to engage/ manage the devices without help |
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| 7) | Zamir et al. (12) | Collaborative action research (CAR) | 22 older adult residents (≥ 65 years) 8 facilitators (22–50 years) | 7 residents with dementia or signs of cognitive decline 12 residents with hearing impairment 9 with visual impairment 3 that are non-verbal 6 that are frail |
Convenience sample of older adults in care homes (UK) | No control | To explore the feasibility and accessibility of whether video-calls between care homes could reduce loneliness and social isolation in older adults. | Ethnographic approach consisting of observations, informal unstructured feedback, memo writing and semi-structured interviews | Five dominant themes were revealed Some residents living in the care home seemed to have regained their energy and self-purpose because of the video calls. Therefore, the increase of the residents' social networks by connecting them to other care home residents may have helped decrease their loneliness |