Abstract
Strategies to support people living with dementia are broad in scope, proposing both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions as part of the care pathway. Assistive technologies form part of this offering as both stand-alone devices to support particular tasks and the more complex offering of the “smart home” to underpin ambient assisted living. This paper presents a technology-based system, which expands on the smart home architecture, orientated to support people with daily living. The system, NOCTURNAL, was developed by working directly with people who had dementia, and their carers using qualitative research methods. The research focused primarily on the nighttime needs of people living with dementia in real home settings. Eight people with dementia had the final prototype system installed for a three month evaluation at home. Disturbed sleep patterns, night-time wandering were a focus of this research not only in terms of detection by commercially available technology but also exploring if automated music, light and visual personalized photographs would be soothing to participants during the hours of darkness. The NOCTURNAL platform and associated services was informed by strong user engagement of people with dementia and the service providers who care for them. NOCTURNAL emerged as a holistic service offering a personalised therapeutic aspect with interactive capabilities.
Highlights
The challenges of an ageing population within which people are living longer with congenital and chronic disease are well documented
Critical insights have been gained on user engagement— for people with dementia
This study addressed whether a participatory design involving people with dementia and their carers could utilize the advances in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) to support people with dementia during the nighttime period
Summary
The challenges of an ageing population within which people are living longer with congenital and chronic disease are well documented. The particular difficulties presented by Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias create unique and individual problems for the person living with the condition and their family and friends. Memory deficits are one of the most common characteristics of dementia along with cognitive decline This often results in the person living with dementia having problems generating coherent speech or understanding the spoken or written word. They may have difficulty identifying previously familiar objects, exhibit behavioural changes, decreased judgement and difficulties with activities of daily living
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