Web-Based Presence for Social Connectedness in Long-Term Care: Protocol for a Qualitative Multimethods Study (Preprint)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant restrictions on social gatherings significantly impacted many peoples’ sense of social connectedness, defined as an individual’s subjective sense of having close relationships with others. Older adults living in long-term care homes (LTCHs) experienced extreme restrictions on social gatherings, which negatively impacted their physical and mental health as well as the health and well-being of their family caregivers. Their experiences highlighted the need to reconceptualize social connectedness. In particular, the pandemic highlighted the need to explore novel ways to attain fulfilling relationships with others in the absence of physical gatherings such as through the use of a hybridized system of web-based and in-person presence. OBJECTIVE Given the potential benefits and challenges of web-based presence technology within LTCHs, the proposed research objectives are to (1) explore experiences regarding the use of web-based presence technology (WPT) in support of social connectedness between older adults in LTCHs and their family members, and (2) identify the contextual factors that must be addressed for successful WPT implementation within LTCHs. METHODS This study will take place in south western Ontario, Canada, and be guided by a qualitative multimethod research design conducted in three stages: (1) qualitive description with in-depth qualitative interviews guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and analyzed using content analysis; (2) qualitative description and document analysis methodologies, informed by content and thematic analysis methods; and (3) explicit between-methods triangulation of study findings from stages 1 and 2, interpretation of findings and development of a guiding framework for technology implementation within LTCHs. Using a purposeful, maximum variation sampling approach, stage 1 will involve recruiting approximately 45 participants comprising a range of older adults, family members (30 participants) and staff (15 participants) within several LTCH settings. In stage 2, theoretical sampling will be used to recruit key LTCH stakeholders (directors, administrators, and IT support). In stage 3, the findings from stages 1 and 2 will be triangulated and interpreted to develop a working framework for WPT usage within LTCHs. RESULTS Data collection will begin in fall 2023. The findings emerging from this study will provide insights and understanding about how the factors, barriers, and facilitators to embedding and spreading WPT in LTCHs may benefit or negatively impact older adults in LTCHs, family caregivers, and staff and administrators of LTCHs. CONCLUSIONS The results of this research study will provide a greater understanding of potential approaches that could be used to successfully integrate WPTs in LTCHs. Additionally, benefits as well as challenges for older adults in LTCHs, family caregivers, and staff and administrators of LTCHs will be identified. These findings will help increase knowledge and understanding of how WPT may be used to support social connectedness between older adults in LTCHs and their family members. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT PRR1-10.2196/50137
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Direct model labels (unvalidated)
Per-model category and study-design labels from the labeling rounds. They are machine output, unvalidated, and the disagreement between models ships as data. No study design here is MEDLINE-validated yet.
| Model arm | Categories | Study design | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| gemma | no category Domain: not available · Genre: Protocol About the Canadian research system: no · About a Canadian topic: no | Qualitative | low |
| gpt | no category Domain: not available · Genre: Protocol About the Canadian research system: no · About a Canadian topic: no | Qualitative | high |
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.071 | 0.053 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.003 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.004 | 0.003 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.004 | 0.005 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.008 | 0.004 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.005 |
| Open science | 0.005 | 0.005 |
| Research integrity | 0.006 | 0.007 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.090 | 0.013 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedLabeled directly by 2 models reading the full record.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".