Digital readiness of the in-home aged care workforce: A latent profile analysis

IF 1.4 4区医学 Q4 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY

Australasian Journal on Ageing Pub Date : 2025-03-05 DOI:10.1111/ajag.70010

Baldwin Pok Man Kwan, Marissa Dickins, Frances Batchelor, Sue Williams, Kerry Hwang, Kate Fulford, Tony Walsh, Helena Jakupovic, Tanya E. Davison

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Abstract

Objectives

The use of technology could potentially improve the quality of in-home aged care and reduce staff workload. However, there is a lack of research into the digital readiness of the in-home aged care workforce. This study aimed to identify the distinct digital readiness profiles of Australian in-home aged care staff and the demographic characteristics associated with each profile.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted at an Australian national in-home aged care provider between May and August 2023, recruiting aged care staff from services in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. Data regarding participants' demographic characteristics, personal technology use, digital literacy and attitude towards using technology in in-home aged care were collected. Latent profile analysis and Fisher's exact test were conducted for data analysis.

Results

In total, 267 participants completed this study. Three digital readiness profiles (higher, medium and lower) were identified. The largest subgroup was participants with medium digital readiness (64%), followed by participants with higher digital readiness (24%) and lower digital readiness (12%), respectively. Age group (p = .003), education level (p = .03) and role (p = .009) were found to be associated with the digital readiness profile.

Conclusions

Three distinct profiles of digital readiness were identified in the Australian in-home aged care workforce. A small but substantial proportion of the workforce had lower digital readiness and may require targeted support to improve their preparedness to use technology in delivering in-home aged care services.

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家庭老年护理工作人员的数字化准备：一个潜在的概况分析

目的技术的应用有可能提高居家养老质量，减少工作人员的工作量。然而，缺乏对家庭老年护理人员的数字化准备情况的研究。本研究旨在确定澳大利亚家庭老年护理人员的不同数字准备概况以及与每种概况相关的人口统计学特征。方法于2023年5月至8月在澳大利亚国家居家老年护理提供者进行横断面研究，招募来自南澳大利亚州、维多利亚州和西澳大利亚州的老年护理人员。收集了参与者的人口统计特征、个人技术使用情况、数字素养和对在家养老中使用技术的态度等数据。数据分析采用隐型分析和Fisher精确检验。结果共有267名参与者完成了本研究。确定了三个数字准备概况（较高、中等和较低）。最大的亚组是中等数字准备的参与者（64%），其次是数字准备程度较高的参与者（24%）和数字准备程度较低的参与者（12%）。发现年龄组别（p = 0.003）、教育程度（p = 0.03）和角色（p = 0.009）与数字化准备情况相关。结论：在澳大利亚家庭老年护理人员中，确定了三种不同的数字准备情况。一小部分劳动力的数字化准备程度较低，可能需要有针对性的支持，以提高他们在提供家庭养老服务时使用技术的准备程度。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australasian Journal on Ageing 医学-老年医学

CiteScore

3.10

自引率

6.20%

发文量

114

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Australasian Journal on Ageing is a peer reviewed journal, which publishes original work in any area of gerontology and geriatric medicine. It welcomes international submissions, particularly from authors in the Asia Pacific region.