Residents at assisted living centers say video conferencing enriched their lives

While assisted living centers provide comfort and care for seniors, residents often miss their families. Now, there may be a new trend making waves at retirement homes - video conferencing.


A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing has shown that the large majority of seniors who tried their hand at video conferencing reported a happy experience.


"A trained research assistant helped the residents speak to their spouse, child or grandchild using Skype or MSN" explained Professor Yun-Fang Tsai, co-author of the study.

"At the end of the three-month study period, all the participants took part in in-depth interviews."


Researchers discovered that out of the 34 participants, the majority found the experience to be fulfilling.


"If my family could come to visit me in person, that would be the best way since I can see them more clearly. But they are very busy and have no time to visit every day. This may sometimes replace their in-person visits," one of the participants said, according to the report.


According to market researcher TeleGeography, Skype carried around 33 billion minutes of international voice calls in 2008.




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