title: Attitudes Toward and Predictors of Videoconferencing Use Among Frequent Family Visitors to Nursing Home Residents in Taiwan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Videoconferencing with family members benefits nursing home residents by decreasing their depression and loneliness. Nevertheless, the rate of participation in videoconferencing by family members is low. The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes toward and factors related to videoconferencing by family visitors to nursing home residents in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 231 family members of residents at 16 medium to large (>70 beds) nursing homes in Taiwan. Data were collected on participants' and residents' demographic and clinical characteristics, acceptance of and attitudes toward using videoconferencing as a form of nursing home visit, and reasons for/roles during visits to nursing home residents. Factors related to the use of videoconferencing were analyzed by logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Family members' acceptance rate of videoconferencing use was low (7.8%). The findings also showed that videoconference use was predicted by hiring a private caregiver (odds ratio=6.90), the role during/reason for family visits being to maintain residents' emotional status (odds ratio=5.46), and the frequency of in-person visits to the nursing home.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We recommend encouraging family use of videoconferencing by available equipment such as smartphones or tablet programs that can address residents' emotional issues in a timely fashion. We also suggest developing more interactive content for videoconferencing, such as a family-oriented picture program to help broaden topics of conversation.
authors.affiliation: 1 School of Nursing, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University , Tao-Yuan, Taiwan .
authors.forename: Hsiu-Hsin
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: 1 School of Nursing, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University , Tao-Yuan, Taiwan .|2 Department of Nursing, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung , Keelung, Taiwan .
authors.forename: Yun-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes; D013624:Taiwan; D049269:Videoconferencing
keywords: behavioral health; e-health; technology; telecommunications