| This thesis reported a descriptive and explorative study and its purpose is to explore the use of the Internet among family caregivers for Alzheimer's patients, caregivers' attitude toward the Internet and its impacts on their life, and caregivers' perception of how the Internet could be used to assist them in home care. In this study, the Internet was not examined only as resources to access disease-related information and services, but also as pathways for entertainment and communication with outside world. I intended to achieve a complete and detailed view of the application of the Internet in different areas of caregivers' life, including their work, leisure, socialization and emotional status, not just personal care related tasks. As a result, the participants' on-line activities and the factors affecting their on-line behaviors were identified.;It appears that professional factor, personal factor and technical factor affected the participants' decision of starting to use the Internet. The use of the Internet had impacts on several aspects of participants' life, such as their approaches to seek information and communicate with others. In response, some of the participant's psychological, physical, situational, technological and social concerns affected their decisions about how to use the Internet. All of the participants held positive attitude toward the use of the Internet and agreed that it had the potential to help them in caregiving. It is apparent that the Internet could be helpful in assisting home care, reducing caregivers' burden and improving their life quality. There is a great need for research into how to effectively employ the Internet into home care. |
