‘It doesn't feel like our house anymore’: The impact of medical technology upon life at home for families with a medically complex, technology-dependent child

Mitchell, Tracy Karen; Bray, Lucy; Blake, Lucy; Dickinson, Annette; Carter, Bernie

Abstract

The study aimed to identify how medical technology impacts upon the home and life at home. Inductive auto-driven photo-elicitation or semi-structured interviews were conducted with technology-dependent children/young people (n = 2) and their family members (n = 15) from 10 families. Thematic analysis generated three themes: Altered physicality and look of the home; Altered sounds in the home; and ‘It's worth it! Technology enables us to stay as a family’. Fundamentally, the detrimental impacts of living with medical technology were perceived as worth it as these enabled their child to be at home. Home was not home, and families were incomplete without their child at home.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 14, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 23, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Deposit Date: Feb 28, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 24, 2023
• Journal: Health & Place
• Print ISSN: 1353-8292
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 74
• Article Number: 102768
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102768
• Keywords: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Geography, Planning and Development; Health (social science)
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9081314