A Socio‑Technical Approach to Designing Digital Health Tools for Older Caregivers : Insights from a Case Study of the Next‑of‑Kin Compass

Sammanfattning

Sweden's ageing population and shrinking medical workforce are placing pressure on the healthcare system, leading to greater dependence on digital healthcare. Informal caregivers, frequently older adults, are filling gaps in formal care without adequate support for their well-being. While digital tools have the potential to support them, these often fail to meet the specific needs of older caregivers, who juggle age-related challenges alongside demanding caregiving duties. Research has often treated ageing and caregiving issues separately, resulting in a limited understanding of their combined impact on digital health design. This thesis explores how the challenges of ageing and caregiving can inform the design of digital health tools for older caregivers, focusing on the development of design guidelines that can be applied in real-world contexts. To address this, the study adopts a single case study approach focused on the Swedish caregiver support tool Närståendekompassen (Next-of-Kin Compass). Data were collected through heuristic evaluation, a reflection workshop, semi-structured interviews, and iterative prototype redesign. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and interpreted through the Senior Technology Acceptance Model (STAM) and the Non-adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability (NASSS) framework. The findings show that older caregivers experience overlapping cognitive, emotional, physical, and time-related pressures that influence digital health engagement. In response, the study identified design guidelines centered on clarity, simplified navigation, flexibility, trust, and supportive guidance, which were applied in the redesign of the Next-of-Kin Compass. This thesis enhances digital health and Human-Computer Interaction research by identifying older caregivers as a unique user group with specific design needs.