More than 50% of Australians living in residential aged care facilities have a dementia diagnosis, with aged care services around the world preparing for the number of older people aged 65 years and above to double in the next 30 years. For the first time, experts at the Caring Futures Institute at South Australia’s Flinders University are using eye-tracking technology to ensure that the voices of all older people are heard to drive effective and positive change. “Older adults living with a diagnosis of dementia in residential care can find it challenging to respond to traditional text-based questionnaires to rate the quality of life and quality of care they receive. “By using eye-tracking technology we can collect crucial information about how older people with dementia read and respond to questionnaires, helping to understand how we can better design and adapt these for their needs,” said senior research fellow Dr Rachel Milte, the lead for the study published in the Quality of Life Research. In the study, researchers asked 41 residents ranging from ‘no’ to ‘mild or moderate’ cognitive impairment to complete a simple quality-of-life survey while sitting at a computer installed with eyetracking technology. In real-time, the technology records where participants focus their gaze while completing the questionnaire, the text they read and don’t read, and parts of the questionnaire they spend the most time looking at. “This information helps us to design questionnaires which are easier for older people to complete, as well as understand whether they are reading all the key information to give high-quality data for use in assessing the quality of care in residential aged care homes,” explained Milte. See more HERE. JG