What is TOCHIE PROJECT…
About the Tochie Project
Tochie is a smart audio device that is intended to assist family member supporters and caregivers of older adults. Tochie can help with reminders about daily tasks and can help with performing other activities. Our research aims to learn about the experiences of seniors, family members and caregivers with using the Tochie device.
Tochie first plays an audio sound followed by a pre-recorded message made by family members. This allows family to provide support to their loved ones living in long-term care (LTC). An advantage of the Tochie device is that there is no language barrier for recording the message. In addition, the recording can be used for daily activities, such as, reminding residents to take medication, or to go to appointments. The recordings from familiar family member voices may also provide comfort and companionship.
In the Tochie project, we included 10 residents, 9 family members and 6 care staff from two LTC homes in British Columbia, Canada. A Tochie was provided to each resident to use with their family members over 4 weeks. The research team provided support and gathered feedback from family members and care staff through weekly phone and email correspondence. We learned their experiences through pre- and post-intervention focus groups and interviews.
We found that using the Tochie device helped facilitated emotional connections between residents, families, and care staff. It also allows creative and personalizes possibilities to show care to each other. We identified that structural considerations such as Wi-Fi and staff support are also critical in the success and sustainment of utilizing devices like Tochie in care homes. We have summarized our learnings and future implications L.O.V.E in the published article and international conference presentations and are thankful for all the participants and partners for this learning journey.
Our Knowledge Translation (KT) Journey…
Click on the photos to read our publications online:
Our Team
Our Team: Dr. Lillian Hung, Margaret Lin, Irene Chen, Sophie Yang. Erika Young. See our ‘About Us’ page to learn more about our lab members.