DIALOGUE – Digital care technologies for social connection, care and support of older adults.

DIALOGUE is a project funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme, that aimed to explore the growing use of care and consumer technologies for older adults within social care. 

Social care services are looking at using new technologies such as mobile phones, tablets, apps, smart speakers, artificial intelligence and social robots. These technologies might be easier for people to use while also being cheaper to provide. However, we do not know what new technologies are being tried by services, how services might need to change to use these technologies and whether they are better than what is usually provided. The goal of DIALOGUE was to investigate the priorities for the future of research and practice in social care in relation to assistive technologies. We wanted to identify the key priorities facing different groups involved in delivering social care services, as well as priorities among older people receiving these services, about technologies and what they wanted from technologies

Meet the Team

Our team involves a collaboration between academics from eight Universities (University of Stirling, University of Northumbria, Newcastle University, Open University, University of Hertfordshire, King’s College London, London School of Economics and Bristol University. Middlesbrough Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board were also project partners.  Community partners included Rekindle in Middlesbrough, Age UK in Bristol and Shaping our Lives in Hertfordshire. DIALOGUE commenced in 2023 and completed in summer 2024.

Visit the team page

What did DIALOGUE Find Out

The focus of DIALOGUE was to ask the question of what is important for people using and providing social care services. The project was organised into five work packages, each of which contributed to the development of our overall set of priorities for future research. The ultimate goal of DIALOGUE was to use this information to develop a future research agenda for technology enabled social care services, including applications to major research funders.

Work Packages

DIALOGUE was organised around the following work packages.