Safety and monitoring technologies for the homes of people with dementia

Abstract

A three-year pilot programme during 2004-2006 was carried out in Finland to investigate home care assistive devices and safety technologies for people with dementia. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology used was carried out in 2006 and 2007. Twenty-five elderly persons living at home and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease participated in the study. The age group of the people with dementia ranged from 54 to 90 years; the average age was 79 years. Family caregivers were less than 65 years of age in 20 cases, and five were over age 65. Twenty-nine different technologies were tested. The technologies used could be divided into three categories: risk preventive technology, assistive technology and emergency technology. The choice of technology was based on the individual needs of the person with dementia. In general, the most readily accepted and most useful were passive devices that did not require active control or activation by the person with dementia. Individual devices were in use during the study for an average of 7.5 months. The cost of the devices installed was between €30 and €2,100, the average cost of the devices was €600. On average, the technology installed was evaluated to have increased the ‘home time’ of the elderly persons by an average of eight months (range 0 to 12 months and over) resulting in a clear postponement of a need for institutional care. Since the average expenses for a person with dementia in institutional care are approximately €3,000/month in Finland, technology taken to homes is cost effective in the long run. There are a great number of devices aimed at home care, thus professionals need information on available technologies and the criteria for their use. If used appropriately, home care technology can have a significant positive impact on home care of people with dementia.