Abstract
The excitement bubbling around technology-supported interventions for persons with dementia has not diminished as researchers have moved to a new stage that of identifying facilitators and barriers to the adoption, implementation, and adherence to technology-based projects. Reflections and opinions on data gathering and data analyses, in pilot studies, early-stage projects, and small business innovation research, suggest that researchers involved with technology-supported interventions for people with dementia are looking closely at their impact, their collaboration with innovative companies, and their potential for continuation, further development, and commercialization.
Initiating and maintaining communication with people having dementia is a crucial component in sustaining a positive personal identity and is a hallmark of person-centered care. This requires time, patience, and imagination. New developments in technology can enable a greater number of environments for talk, sustain the caregiver, and elicit engagement and response, even as the disease progresses.
Many of the articles in this special issue are expansions of presentations delivered in 2 symposia at the 2013 Conference of the Gerontological Society of America, a meeting with a large component of presentations and posters on technology and dementia. Using technology to support and extend dementia care is not new: What is exciting is that it is becoming increasingly effective, as seen in these articles, whose range illustrates emphases on person-centered care, the expansion of communications techniques, the preservation of identity, and on finding feasible, noninvasive, and inexpensive ways technology can support telecare and behavior interventions in both home and residential settings.