Presentation
PS16 - Using Wearable Technologies in Resilient Independent Care of Older Adults
DescriptionIntroduction and Aims
Wearable health care technologies have been gaining importance in the daily lives of the elderly population for about a decade. However, research on wearable technologies as a tool to accomplish health goals and resilience has been scarce. Our study aims at determining the role of wearable technologies in building health-resilient and health goal-oriented environments for elderly adults. We aim at accomplishing our goal by a literature search (presented in the current work) followed by a field study in the form of implementation of a structured survey and a number of semi-structured interviews (to be completed and presented by the Conference date).
Technology for Older Adults with a Health Emphasis
Wearable technology in the last decade has been proven to be useful in improving the life quality, expectancy and dealing with specific ailments and treatments within the 60-70 years old population, both living with family, alone, and in assisted living environments (Hentschel et al., 2016). Resilience in health refers to a work system in a health environment where changes to the system can be mostly easily adapted to; however, resilience has mostly been studied in controlled health care environments (Fairbanks et al., 2014; Wiig et al., 2020). Moreover, assisted living is an area where newer technologies by leading companies are already having a major role in monitoring, detecting issues, and offering solutions in independent living for the elderly (Capodieci et al., 2018). “Pro-activeness [and] mobility” are seen as a framework for monitoring of and information sharing for older adults in building a health technology interface for them (Fang, Lin and Huang, 2017).
Based on the evidence from the literature (Hentschel et al., 2016), the health focus of quality of life improvements via wearable technologies can be directed at the following ailments: osteoporosis, chronic diseases and related frailty such as falls due to diabetes (Miller et al., 2015), cardiovascular diseases, frailty and falls, anxiety, obesity, sleep disorders, pulmonary problems and general elderly ailments. Studies offering an in-depth understanding of wearable technology usage goals and technology design recommendations focusing on this population are largely missing.
Wearable Technology for Elderly Health
Health care technologies have been in the consumer market for about two decades. Until the early 21st century, there were only a handful of technologies that could be used in the daily lives of individuals for health care purposes, including digital glucometers, blood pressure and blood oxygen level measurement devices with some minimal digital technology components. With advances in technology, wearable sensors and smart devices, collectively referred to as “smart watches,” became popular starting around 2014, showing sizeable growth every year in the following decade and reaching 300 million units worldwide by the end of 2023 (Laricchia, 2023).
Health care technologies for the elderly in home environments have been around in a serious and useful way with the advent of cell phones, there are a relatively high number of technologies that are used in the form of mobile applications. Main applications to help with elderly’s health include those focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle (Kekade et al., 2018), improving their quality of life, working as an alert system for emergencies and maintaining compliance with doctor’s orders. Help in maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be in the form of alerts to keep active and creating situations to allow them to get exercise. Improving the quality of life can be access to more social activities and communication using the communication and display abilities of the wearable. Working as an alert system can be in the form of sending alerts to the caregiver or health care provider when a fall is detected or when there is a lack of movement for an extended amount of time. It should be noted that from an early time on, mobile, and in some cases, wearable technologies, have been identified as preventative technologies for elderly protection within areas including video monitoring, fall detection, hip protection, pressure mats, door alerts, movement detection, smoke alarms, fire alarms, cooker control, and electronic calendars and clocks (Miskelly, 2001). Maintaining compliance with the doctor’s orders can be in the form of alerts and notifications that can work as reminders to fulfill specific tasks such as taking a medication or take a walk at a certain time on a regular basis.
Design Considerations and Other Human Factors Challenges
While most smart devices focus on a broad range of users in terms of usefulness and usability, including older adults, special design considerations may be necessary due to physical and cognitive limitations of the population. Wearable design with special emphasis on screen visibility, use of large enough buttons and inclusion of special sensors are some design considerations mentioned in the past (Sravanthi et al., 2016). From the perspective of information usefulness and device usability, Thompson and Thielke (2009) identified factors relevant to older adults in the technology context as mitigating risks, enhancing human interaction, focusing on specific needs and what matters related to patients, and ensuring high utility and filtered information for patients.
Current Work Goals, Message and Takeaway Points
With the design of safe and effective wearable technologies both in terms of hardware and software, older adults can remain healthy, have higher quality of life and be resilient in their own care. For this reason, we are beginning our data collection on fifty older adults, living independently with diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, in the form of a structured surveys semi-structured interviews. Our data collection will primarily focus on older adults’ attitudes and perceptions regarding the use of wearable technology as a health support tool. Key questions include whether they are currently using or willing to use a wearable technology as a health support tool, keeping track of their exercise and mobility situation, medication adherence, health markers such as blood pressure and blood glucose levels, communication of information with their care givers and a few more points. Information concerning the usability and perceived usefulness of the technology within the health care context of older adults will also be used to produce information and device design recommendations for wearable technology as it applies to use by older adults, with the goal of providing healthier lifestyles and health resiliency for them target group.
Capodieci, Antonio, Luca Mainetti, and Paolo Panarese. "Ambient assisted living for elderly people using smart personal assistants." 2018 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI). IEEE, 2018.
Fairbanks, Rollin J., et al. "Resilience and resilience engineering in health care." Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 40.8 (2014): 376-383.
Fang, Yu-Min, Chun Lin, and Sheng-Yi Huang. "The devices and interfaces for elderly healthcare." 2017 International Conference on Applied System Innovation (ICASI). IEEE, 2017.
Hentschel, M. A., Haaksma, M. L., & van de Belt, T. H. (2016). Wearable technology for the elderly: Underutilized solutions. European geriatric medicine, 7(5), 399-401.
Larichia, Federica. Smartwatches - statistics & facts. Statista 2023. https://www.statista.com/topics/4762/smartwatches/#topicOverview
Miskelly, Frank G. "Assistive technology in elderly care." Age and ageing 30.6 (2001): 455-458.
Thompson, Hilaire J., and Stephen M. Thielke. "How do health care providers perceive technologies for monitoring older adults?." 2009 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE, 2009.
Wiig, Siri, et al. "Defining the boundaries and operational concepts of resilience in the resilience in healthcare research program." BMC health services research 20 (2020): 1-9.
Wearable health care technologies have been gaining importance in the daily lives of the elderly population for about a decade. However, research on wearable technologies as a tool to accomplish health goals and resilience has been scarce. Our study aims at determining the role of wearable technologies in building health-resilient and health goal-oriented environments for elderly adults. We aim at accomplishing our goal by a literature search (presented in the current work) followed by a field study in the form of implementation of a structured survey and a number of semi-structured interviews (to be completed and presented by the Conference date).
Technology for Older Adults with a Health Emphasis
Wearable technology in the last decade has been proven to be useful in improving the life quality, expectancy and dealing with specific ailments and treatments within the 60-70 years old population, both living with family, alone, and in assisted living environments (Hentschel et al., 2016). Resilience in health refers to a work system in a health environment where changes to the system can be mostly easily adapted to; however, resilience has mostly been studied in controlled health care environments (Fairbanks et al., 2014; Wiig et al., 2020). Moreover, assisted living is an area where newer technologies by leading companies are already having a major role in monitoring, detecting issues, and offering solutions in independent living for the elderly (Capodieci et al., 2018). “Pro-activeness [and] mobility” are seen as a framework for monitoring of and information sharing for older adults in building a health technology interface for them (Fang, Lin and Huang, 2017).
Based on the evidence from the literature (Hentschel et al., 2016), the health focus of quality of life improvements via wearable technologies can be directed at the following ailments: osteoporosis, chronic diseases and related frailty such as falls due to diabetes (Miller et al., 2015), cardiovascular diseases, frailty and falls, anxiety, obesity, sleep disorders, pulmonary problems and general elderly ailments. Studies offering an in-depth understanding of wearable technology usage goals and technology design recommendations focusing on this population are largely missing.
Wearable Technology for Elderly Health
Health care technologies have been in the consumer market for about two decades. Until the early 21st century, there were only a handful of technologies that could be used in the daily lives of individuals for health care purposes, including digital glucometers, blood pressure and blood oxygen level measurement devices with some minimal digital technology components. With advances in technology, wearable sensors and smart devices, collectively referred to as “smart watches,” became popular starting around 2014, showing sizeable growth every year in the following decade and reaching 300 million units worldwide by the end of 2023 (Laricchia, 2023).
Health care technologies for the elderly in home environments have been around in a serious and useful way with the advent of cell phones, there are a relatively high number of technologies that are used in the form of mobile applications. Main applications to help with elderly’s health include those focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle (Kekade et al., 2018), improving their quality of life, working as an alert system for emergencies and maintaining compliance with doctor’s orders. Help in maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be in the form of alerts to keep active and creating situations to allow them to get exercise. Improving the quality of life can be access to more social activities and communication using the communication and display abilities of the wearable. Working as an alert system can be in the form of sending alerts to the caregiver or health care provider when a fall is detected or when there is a lack of movement for an extended amount of time. It should be noted that from an early time on, mobile, and in some cases, wearable technologies, have been identified as preventative technologies for elderly protection within areas including video monitoring, fall detection, hip protection, pressure mats, door alerts, movement detection, smoke alarms, fire alarms, cooker control, and electronic calendars and clocks (Miskelly, 2001). Maintaining compliance with the doctor’s orders can be in the form of alerts and notifications that can work as reminders to fulfill specific tasks such as taking a medication or take a walk at a certain time on a regular basis.
Design Considerations and Other Human Factors Challenges
While most smart devices focus on a broad range of users in terms of usefulness and usability, including older adults, special design considerations may be necessary due to physical and cognitive limitations of the population. Wearable design with special emphasis on screen visibility, use of large enough buttons and inclusion of special sensors are some design considerations mentioned in the past (Sravanthi et al., 2016). From the perspective of information usefulness and device usability, Thompson and Thielke (2009) identified factors relevant to older adults in the technology context as mitigating risks, enhancing human interaction, focusing on specific needs and what matters related to patients, and ensuring high utility and filtered information for patients.
Current Work Goals, Message and Takeaway Points
With the design of safe and effective wearable technologies both in terms of hardware and software, older adults can remain healthy, have higher quality of life and be resilient in their own care. For this reason, we are beginning our data collection on fifty older adults, living independently with diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, in the form of a structured surveys semi-structured interviews. Our data collection will primarily focus on older adults’ attitudes and perceptions regarding the use of wearable technology as a health support tool. Key questions include whether they are currently using or willing to use a wearable technology as a health support tool, keeping track of their exercise and mobility situation, medication adherence, health markers such as blood pressure and blood glucose levels, communication of information with their care givers and a few more points. Information concerning the usability and perceived usefulness of the technology within the health care context of older adults will also be used to produce information and device design recommendations for wearable technology as it applies to use by older adults, with the goal of providing healthier lifestyles and health resiliency for them target group.
Capodieci, Antonio, Luca Mainetti, and Paolo Panarese. "Ambient assisted living for elderly people using smart personal assistants." 2018 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI). IEEE, 2018.
Fairbanks, Rollin J., et al. "Resilience and resilience engineering in health care." Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 40.8 (2014): 376-383.
Fang, Yu-Min, Chun Lin, and Sheng-Yi Huang. "The devices and interfaces for elderly healthcare." 2017 International Conference on Applied System Innovation (ICASI). IEEE, 2017.
Hentschel, M. A., Haaksma, M. L., & van de Belt, T. H. (2016). Wearable technology for the elderly: Underutilized solutions. European geriatric medicine, 7(5), 399-401.
Larichia, Federica. Smartwatches - statistics & facts. Statista 2023. https://www.statista.com/topics/4762/smartwatches/#topicOverview
Miskelly, Frank G. "Assistive technology in elderly care." Age and ageing 30.6 (2001): 455-458.
Thompson, Hilaire J., and Stephen M. Thielke. "How do health care providers perceive technologies for monitoring older adults?." 2009 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE, 2009.
Wiig, Siri, et al. "Defining the boundaries and operational concepts of resilience in the resilience in healthcare research program." BMC health services research 20 (2020): 1-9.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeMonday, March 254:45pm - 6:15pm CDT
LocationSalon C
Digital Health
Simulation and Education
Hospital Environments
Medical and Drug Delivery Devices
Patient Safety Research and Initiatives