Elderly in Sheltered Accommodation
The proportion of aging populations is growing worldwide, and explosive growth is expected to continue (Medjahed et al., 2011). When supporting the elderly to maintain their independence and quality of life, the role of family is crucial. However, the next of kin can experience too heavy a burden in caring for their elderly and continuing their lives (Hainstock et al., 2017). Sheltered accommodation and treatment costs are rising, and illness is more prominent, requiring additional resources for nursing staff (Alam et al., 2012). Studies show that the life of the elderly is more meaningful in nursing homes than in an institutional care facility (Nikmat et al., 2015; Tuominen et al., 2016). In the nursing home, the elderly can have their own rooms and live in their own apartments surrounded by their own belongings. Nursing staff is available 24/7 (Coelho et al., 2015); however, with an increasing number of residents, so does the workload of nursing staff increase, thus weakening the premise of better care of patients, mostly due to efficiency bottlenecks (Huttunen et al., 2018). Intelligent care systems provide many opportunities to overcome such challenges, and elderly well-being, health and functional ability have been shown to improve with wearable sensors and personal area networks (PAN) (Wong et al., 2017).
It is natural for the nursing staff to recognise the limitations of older people’s ability to perform daily tasks, thus empowering them to provide high-quality care for the elderly. Guiding and providing information to family members are among the duties of a nurse, and the role of the family in service systems is also very important. Studies show that it is important to encourage and support relatives to interact with the elderly and nursing staff (Andersen, 1995; Doty, 1986).