Assistive Technologies for People with Dementia

2015 ◽  
pp. 269-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos N. Xenakidis ◽  
Antonis M. Hadjiantonis ◽  
George M. Milis
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Empirical Knowledge ◽  
Disease Symptoms ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Early Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Available Technology

This chapter focuses on the presentation and discussion of available assistive tools for people with dementia symptoms and cognitive decline, leading to the conclusion that these tools may, nowadays, will be replaced by mobile applications for smart devices. A functional mobile prototype assistive application for android platform devices like smartphones, tablets and smartwatches is presented, with features that offer support to the basic needs of caregivers and people with cognitive decline, giving more emphasis on people with early Alzheimer's disease symptoms. It is shown that, utilising the available technology, as well as existing literature and empirical knowledge, mobile applications may offer a serious alternative to currently available assistive tools, while also offering considerable functionality advantages.

Ethical issues in the care of people with dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 374-381
Author(s):  
Joshua Parker
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Functional Impairment ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
People With Dementia

Dementia is a syndrome characterised by cognitive decline, memory loss and progressive functional impairment. It is increasingly common, and is largely managed in the community. The nature of dementia leads to many deep philosophical problems that bear on the various ethical issues that arise for clinicians caring for these patients. This article explores these ethical issues with a focus on promoting autonomy and making best interests decisions. Everyday ethical issues including truth telling, restraint and limitations of freedom, abuse and vulnerability are considered. Ethical issues generated by the use of assistive technologies and finally confidentiality are also, briefly, considered. Although this article cannot give specific ‘right answers’ to the myriad ethical issues confronting GPs working with people with dementia, it does aim to highlight productive lines of thought in navigating such issues.

Involving people with dementia and their informal caregivers in the development process of assistive technology: Description and evaluation of a user-centered design (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris A.G.M. Geerts ◽  
Liselore J.A.E Snaphaan ◽  
Inge M.B. Bongers
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Informal Caregivers ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
User Centered

BACKGROUND Despite the potential value of assistive technology to support people with dementia (PWD) in everyday activities, use of these technologies is still limited. To ensure that assistive technologies better address the specific needs and daily context of PWD and their informal caregivers, it is particularly important to involve them in all different phases of assistive technology development. The literature rarely describes the involvement of PWD throughout the development process of assistive technologies, which makes it difficult to further reflect on and improve active involvement of PWD. OBJECTIVE This two-part study aimed to gather insights on the user-centered design (UCD) applied in the development process of the alpha prototype of the serious game PLAYTIME by describing the methods and procedures of the UCD as well as evaluating the UCD from the perspective of all involved stakeholders. METHODS The first three phases of the user-driven Living Lab of Innovate Dementia 2.0 were applied to directly involve PWD and their informal caregivers through qualitative research methods, including focus groups and a context-field study, in the development of the alpha prototype of PLAYTIME from exploration to design to testing. After the testing phase, a total number of 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted with PWD, their informal caregivers and the project members of PLAYTIME to evaluate the applied UCD from the perspective of all involved stakeholders. The interviews addressed five of the principles for successful UCD and the appropriateness of the different methods used in the focus groups and context-field study. RESULTS Results of the interviews focused, amongst others, on the level of involvement of PWD and their informal caregivers in the development process, the input provided by PWD and their informal caregivers, the value of early prototyping, continuous iterations of design solutions and in-context testing, the role of dementia care professionals in the multidisciplinary project team, and the appropriateness of open- and closed-ended questions for obtaining input from PWD and their informal caregivers. CONCLUSIONS The description and evaluation of the UCD applied in the development process of the alpha prototype of PLAYTIME resulted in several insights on the relevance of UCD for all involved stakeholders as well as how PWD can be involved in the subsequent phases of usable and meaningful assistive technology development.

scholarly journals Places Visited, Maintained, or Abandoned Outside Home: A Community Mobility Need of Older Adults With Dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 673-673
Author(s):  
Isabel Margot-Cattin ◽  
Sophie Gaber ◽  
Nicolas Kuhne ◽  
Camilla Malinowski ◽  
Louise Nygard
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Driving Cessation ◽  
Age In Place ◽  
Community Mobility ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Abstract For older adults to “age in place”, they need to keep engaged and mobile in their communities, whatever their health condition. The impact of age and cognitive decline on community mobility is a growing problem in Europe and worldwide. Engaging in occupations outside home implies being able to get to those places where activities are performed. Yet little is known regarding the types of places visited, maintained or abandoned for older adults with/without dementia. This study addresses community mobility needs through the places people visit, maintain or abandon. People with and without dementia, aged 55+, were interviewed using the Participation in ACTivities and Places OUTside the Home (ACT-OUT) questionnaire across Switzerland (n=70), Sweden (n=69) and the UK (n=128). Results show that people with dementia experience a higher rate of abandonment for more places than regular older adults. Insights about driving cessation and access to travel passes will be presented.

scholarly journals The relationship between polypharmacy and trajectories of cognitive decline in people with dementia: A large representative cohort study

2019 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 62-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinar Soysal ◽  
Gayan Perera ◽  
Ahmet Turan Isik ◽  
Graziano Onder ◽  
Mirko Petrovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Representative Cohort ◽  
Large Representative

scholarly journals Personalisation, customisation and bricolage: how people with dementia and their families make assistive technology work for them

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 2502-2519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Gibson ◽  
Claire Dickinson ◽  
Katie Brittain ◽  
Louise Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Technology Use ◽  
Dementia Care ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Everyday Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Manage Care ◽  
Age In Place ◽  
Care Services ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Everyday

AbstractAssistive technologies (ATs) are being ‘mainstreamed’ within dementia care, where they are promoted as enabling people with dementia to age in place alongside delivering greater efficiencies in care. AT provision focuses upon standardised solutions, with little known about how ATs are used by people with dementia and their carers within everyday practice. This paper explores how people with dementia and carers use technologies in order to manage care. Findings are reported from qualitative semi-structured interviews with 13 people with dementia and 26 family carers. Readily available household technologies were used in conjunction with and instead of AT to address diverse needs, replicating AT functions when doing so. Successful technology use was characterised by ‘bricolage’ or the non-conventional use of tools or methods to address local needs. Carers drove AT use by engaging creatively with both assistive and everyday technologies, however, carers were not routinely supported in their creative engagements with technology by statutory health or social care services, making bricolage a potentially frustrating and wasteful process. Bricolage provides a useful framework to understand how technologies are used in the everyday practice of dementia care, and how technology use can be supported within care. Rather than implementing standardised AT solutions, AT services and AT design in future should focus on how technologies can support more personalised, adaptive forms of care.

The Validity of the Norwegian Version of the Cognitive Function Instrument

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 217-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Michelet ◽  
Knut Engedal ◽  
Geir Selbæk ◽  
Anne Lund ◽  
Guro Hanevold Bjørkløf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
The Self ◽  
Norwegian Version ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Diagnosis Of Dementia ◽  
Proxy Version

Background/Aims: A timely diagnosis of dementia is important, and the Cognitive Function Instrument (CFI) is a newly developed instrument to screen for cognitive decline. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and internal consistency of the Norwegian version of the CFI. Methods: We included 265 participants with dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), and a reference group without subjective or assessed cognitive decline. The participants and their relatives answered the self- and proxy-rated versions of the CFI. Results: The Norwegian CFI had power to discriminate between people with dementia and with MCI, SCI, and the reference group. The proxy version had better power than the self-rated version in our participants (area under the curve [AUC] proxy-rated varying from 0.79 to 0.99, AUC self-rated varying from 0.56 to 0.85). Conclusion: The Norwegian CFI was found to be a useful, valid, and robust instrument.

scholarly journals Hearing loss and cognition: a discussion for audiologists and hearing healthcare professionals

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-78
Author(s):  
Douglas L Beck ◽  
Sarah Bant ◽  
Nathan A Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
British Society ◽  
Future Research ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Status ◽  
Impact Patient Care ◽  
The Relationship

Among researchers, clinicians and patients, there is widespread and growing interest in the relationship between hearing and cognition. The Cognition in Hearing Special Interest Group (SIG) is part of the British Society of Audiology (BSA) and is uniquely positioned to explore the relationship between hearing loss, amplification and cognitive ability and cognitive decline. The multiplicity of emerging reports concerning hearing loss and cognition is increasing rapidly. In light of this vast growth, there is a risk that clinicians may be left uncertain regarding the nature and extent of the emerging evidence linking hearing and cognition. The trickle-down corollary of such uncertainty can negatively impact patient care. Answering challenging questions and disseminating complex information about the latest evidence-based hearing science are a daily part of any clinician’s role and those in audiology services may be asked “How does my hearing loss affect my chance of getting dementia?” or “can hearing aids help people with dementia?” This discussion is therefore, based on articles and information our committee members selected to represent the status quo. The Cognition in Hearing SIG aims, through this discussion article, to provide clinicians a contemporary understanding of research on this topic. We will discuss evidence concerning hearing loss and cognition and how it relates to people living with hearing loss and cognitive decline or dementia, and we shall pose some challenges and opportunities for future research and clinical practice evidence. Therefore, to address these aims in an accessible manner for clinicians, the Cognition in Hearing SIG shall address the following broad questions: What is the relationship between hearing loss and cognition? What do we know about hearing loss and cognitive performance? Is there a link between hearing loss, cognitive decline, and dementia? Can we intervene on the relationship between hearing loss and cognition?

scholarly journals Mobile accident report and road assistance application

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-128
Author(s):  
Nadide Duygu Solak ◽  
Murat Topaloglu
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Traffic Accident ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Loss Assessment ◽  
The Road ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
The Moment

The number of mobile applications has been increasing rapidly in every field of life with the increasing use of smart devices. Smartphones and tablets make our lives easier with their properties and application they include. Minor or major accidents in traffic are always present in the daily life resulting in financial damage and loss of lives. There have been a number of studies done to speed up the processes to be done from the moment an accident happens. This study aims to enable people to perform all of the post-accident processes quickly and accurately with the use of mobile devices. In this way, papers and documents like photographs will be sent to the competent authorities without wasting time and effort. In addition, access to the road assistance needed will be quite easy. Keywords: Traffic accident, loss assessment and proceedings, mobile application.

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