The Effectiveness of Digital Care-plan for Improving Long-term Care 2.0 Service Activation Proportion

Background The number of care recipients served by the 10-Year Long-Term Care Plan 2.0 has grown by approximately 44% since its implementation in 2017. However, only about 228,000 individuals were evaluated by care centers from January to November 2018. This indicates that long-term care services had achieved a service coverage of 29.8% for January-November 2018, serving less than 30% of the individuals who need long-term care. Research on the reasons for not using such services has revealed that the public has limited access to and understanding of information relating to long-term care resources, making it difficult for people draw the connection between their needs and long-term care services. Aim The study will involve the development of an app-based digital care program, in the hope of enhancing the public's access to and understanding of long-term care information and expanding the coverage realized by long-term care. Method The study is a two-group randomized controlled trial with an expected sample of 76 participants, and the app-based digital care program will serve as the intervention tool in this study. The experimental group will have access to information on the Long-Term Care Plan 2.0 through the app-based digital care program, while the control group will only have access to information on the Long-Term Care Plan 2.0 through conventional paper-based media. Data collection is then conducted using a pre- and post-test approach and through the administration of a structured questionnaire. The data collected include the participants' willingness to use long-term care services, their attitudes toward long-term care services, and their service use behavior. For the experimental group, an additional survey was also conducted to assess their satisfaction with the use the app-based digital care program to access information, with the aim of examining the effectiveness of the program when used by new Long-Term Care Plan 2.0 cases.