Technologies In Home Environment Research Articles

Understanding Older Adults' Experiences With Technologies for Health Self-management: Interview Study.

Many older adults now use technologies such as wearable devices and telehealth services to support their health and well-being while living independently at home. However, older adults vary in how they use these technologies, and there is a lack of knowledge regarding the motivations that influence their acceptance and use of health-related technologies in home environments. This study aimed to understand the types of technologies that older adults use to support their health and the factors that motivate them to use their chosen technologies to support their health. In addition, we aimed to understand the factors that enable the effective use of technologies for health self-management and to identify the barriers that can negatively affect the adoption of technologies. A total of 22 older adults participated in semistructured interviews regarding their experiences of using technologies for health self-management. Interview transcripts were analyzed through an in-depth thematic analysis. The interviews revealed that a range of technologies, such as videoconferencing software, fitness trackers, and other devices, were being used by older adults to support their health. Interviews showed that participants were motivated to use technologies to monitor health issues, to stay active and connected, and to record and change their behavior in the light of foreseen risks related to their future health status. Enablers that facilitated the effective use of technologies include social and organizational influence, convenient access to health care and safety provided by the technology, and easy setup and low cost of the technology. Barriers include information overload and a sense of futility about future health decline; telehealth being an inadequate substitute for in-person consultation; concerns about trust related to privacy and accuracy; and technologies being stigmatizing, uncomfortable to use, expensive, and unfamiliar. This study suggested that older adults were using a variety of technologies to prevent or prepare for future health decline, evidencing a resilient attitude toward health and aging. In addition, older adults were willing to continue using the technology when there was a perceived need. The enabler mentioned by most participants was the social and organizational influence that included health care staff, family, friends, and organizations. This analysis provides a better understanding of how older adults use technologies to support their health and can guide the provision of appropriate health technologies for them.

Acceptance and Preferences of Using Ambient Sensor-Based Lifelogging Technologies in Home Environments.

Diverse sensor-based technologies can be used to track (older and frail) people’s movements and behaviors in order to detect anomalies and emergencies. Using several ambient sensors and integrating them into an assisting ambient system allows for the early identification of emergency situations and health-related changes. Typical examples are passive infrared sensors (PIR), humidity and temperature sensors (H&T) as well as magnetic sensors (MAG). So far, it is not known whether and to what extent these three specific sensor types are perceived and accepted differently by future users. Therefore, the present study analyzed the perception of benefits and barriers as well as acceptance of these specific sensor-based technologies using an online survey (reaching German participants). The results show technology-related differences, especially regarding the perception of benefits. Furthermore, the participants estimated the costs of these sensors to be higher than they are, but at the same time showed a relatively high willingness to pay for the implementation of sensor-based technologies in their home environment. The results enable the derivation of guidelines for both the technical development and the communication and information of assisting sensor-based technologies and systems.

Bathroom telemonitoring system with alerting function for independent life of elderly

Population ageing is tending to become one of the most significant social challenges of the twenty-first century. World’s population is ageing, and this fact is noticeable in every country in the world. Telemonitoring is a way of responding to new needs of home care in an aging population. With the current technology, it is possible to implement solutions that until recently seemed to be a distant vision of the future. Telemonitoring technologies in home environment is still under development, but this method appears to be one of the most promising approaches to facilitate independent living for elderly. This paper presents a fully independent and autonomous bathroom telemonitoring device for emergency situations detection.

From Ambient Assisted Living to Global Information Management: IMIA-Referencing Publications in 2008

To give an overview of publications directly referencing the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) in 2008. Systematic search for references to IMIA over the two official IMIA journals, and reports of the recent IMIA General Assembly and Board meetings, using PubMed/Medline, supplemented by searches with Google Scholar and Google Books. Beyond the IMIA Yearbook 2008, 38 IMIA-referencing publications were found by these searches, encompassing a broad range of topics, ranging from ambient assisted living technologies in home environments to global information management methodologies. In 2008 IMIA-referencing publications found through both medical and general search engines were predominantly in journals. In years where IMIA's world congress on medical informatics, Medinfo take place, it could be expected that the Medinfo proceedings will also play an important role in referencing IMIA explicitly.