Dilemmas in the usage of community-based home care and smart home care services for older adults among family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) - a qualitative study

Sep 29, 2026

Phenomenological qualitative research explores caregiving challenges faced by family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and proposes recommendations to optimize older adults’ care services in China and improve long-term care quality. Semistructured interviews with 20 family caregivers were analyzed using the Colaizzi method with systematic organization in NVivo 12.0. Three core themes and nine sub-themes emerged, covering insufficient external support adaptability, dual social-emotional burdens, and barriers to using smart care technologies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Mild cognitive impairment and caregiving context

Methods

Phenomenological qualitative interviews and analysis approach

Results

Core themes and sub-themes

Conclusion

Recommendations for optimizing community-based and smart care services

TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 23 December 2025 DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1694462 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Lawrence Ejike Ugwu, Renaissance University, Nigeria REVIEWED BY Karolina Kopacz, Medical University of Lodz, Poland Tao Liu, Hangzhou Dianzi University, China *CORRESPONDENCE Ni Li [497027712@qq.com](497027712@qq.com)[ ](497027712@qq.com)Xiaoling Bai [baixiaoling2003@163.com](baixiaoling2003@163.com)[ ](baixiaoling2003@163.com)RECEIVED 28 August 2025 REVISED 23 November 2025 ACCEPTED 15 December 2025 PUBLISHED 23 December 2025 CITATION Chen Y, Li N, Bai X, Jiang Y, Tang B, Huang S and Wu J (2025) Dilemmas in the usage of community-based home care and smart home care services for older adults among family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI): a qualitative study. Front. Public Health 13:1694462 . doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1694462 COPYRIGHT © 2025 Chen, Li, Bai, Jiang, Tang, Huang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Dilemmas in the usage of community-based home care and smart home care services for older adults among family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI): a qualitative study Yulu Chen 1, Ni Li 2*, Xiaoling Bai3*, Yan Jiang 1, Bingxue Tang4, Shan Huang 5 and Juan Wu 6 1School of Nursing, Chongqing University of Humanities, Science and Technology, Hechuan, Chongqing, China, 2Department of Nursing, Guizhou Provincial Rehabilitation Hospital, Guiyang, Guizhou, China, 3School of Nursing, Guizhou College of Nursing, Guiyang, Guizhou, China, 4Department of Psychiatry, Chongqing Mental Health Center, Liangjiang New Area District, Chongqing, China, 5Department of Science and Technology, Guizhou College of Nursing, Guiyang, Guizhou, China, 6Department of Nursing, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center Guizhou Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Guiyang, Guizhou, China Objective: To explore the caregiving challenges encountered by family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to proffer recommendations for optimizing older adults’ care services in China and enhancing the quality of long-term care for older adults with MCI. Methods: A phenomenological approach was employed to conduct semistructured interviews with 20 family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) . This study employed the Colaizzi analytical method and systematically organized and analyzed the data using NVivo 12.0 software. Results: Three core themes and nine sub-themes were identified: (1) Inadequate adaptability of external support systems (structural gaps in community-based home care policies and evaluation frameworks, shortages in caregiving knowledge and skills provision, sustainability challenges in financial support); (2) Dual social and emotional burdens faced by caregivers (disruption of social networks and isolation, accumulation of negative emotional experiences and burnout, moral conflicts over family perceptions and responsibility allocation); (3) Obstacles in smart older adults’care technology use (Privacy concerns from smart monitoring systems, the digital divide, lack of emotional connectivity in human-computer interaction) . Conclusion: Relevant departments should focus on the burdens and challenges family caregivers face in caring for older adult individuals with mild cognitive impairment. This will enable them to develop further diverse community-based home and smart older adults’ care services, ultimately promoting the highquality development of China’s old

FAQs

What was the study’s main objective?

To explore the caregiving challenges experienced by family caregivers of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to provide recommendations for optimizing older adults’ care services in China.

How were the data and interviews conducted?

The study used a phenomenological approach with semistructured interviews of 20 family caregivers, analyzed using the Colaizzi method and organized with NVivo 12.0 software.

What key themes were identified in the results?

Three core themes with nine sub-themes were identified: inadequate adaptability of external support systems, dual social and emotional burdens on caregivers, and obstacles in using smart care technology.

Sep 29, 2026

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