Abstract
The use of technology for social connectivity and achieving engagement goals is increasingly essential to the overall well-being of our rapidly ageing population. While much of the extant literature has focused on home automation and indoor remote health monitoring; there is a growing literature that finds personal health and overall well-being improves when physical activities are conducted outdoors. This study presents a review of possible innovative and assistive eHealth technologies suitable for smart therapeutic and rehabilitation outdoor spaces for older persons. The article also presents key performance metrics required of eHealth technologies to ensure robust, timely and reliable biometric data transfer between patients in a therapeutic landscape environment and respective medical centres. A literature review of relevant publications with a primary focus of integrating sensors and eHealth technologies in outdoor spaces to collect and transfer data from the elderly demographic who engage such built landscapes to appropriate stakeholders was conducted. A content analysis was carried out to synthesize outcomes of the literature review. The study finds that research in assistive eHealth technologies and interfaces for outdoor therapeutic spaces is in its nascent stages and has limited generalisability. The level of technology uptake and readiness for smart outdoor spaces is still developing and is currently being outpaced by the growth of elderly fitness zones in public spaces. Further research is needed to explore those eHealth technologies with interactive feedback mechanisms that are suitable for outdoor therapeutic environments.
Highlights
The ageing global population of people aged 65 years or more is expected to grow to 1.5 billion people by 2050 [1]
This paper explores the potential of technologies suitable for outdoor environments to assist individuals affected by age related loss of function, impairment and disability and includes the evaluation of a platform for integrating biometric data with health services through eHealth technologies
Recent progress in Information and communication technology (ICT), sensor networks, control engineering, wired and wireless home networking has led to a significant advancement in home automation for remote health monitoring; less research has been undertaken on outdoor environments
Summary
The ageing global population of people aged 65 years or more is expected to grow to 1.5 billion people by 2050 [1]. Impairments are increasingly associated with molecular and cellular damage over time as physical and mental capacity dwindles with a growing risk of health issues such as dementia, hearing loss, poor vision and other cognitive disorders. This demographic change presents a critical challenge in terms of cost of health care. The mismatch between the supply and demand for care and health professionals highlights the need for health care services to transit into a system where data and technology can be accessed to make this shift a reality. Information and communication technology (ICT) has a major role to play in determining who provides care, where, what, how and when services are provided [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
