Technology and Cognitive Empowerment for Healthy Elderly

The progressive growth of the ageing population represents opportunities as well as challenges. Consistently, the identification of effective cognitive empowerment programs in elderly population is now a worldwide health policy priority, specially for their preventive effect. In this chapter, within the paradigm of Positive Technology, the main focus will be on the use advanced technologies as effective tools for a new class of applications aimed at improving the traditional cognitive empowerment in elderly. Specifically, the attention will be devoted on how advanced technologies may be used to support elderly in reaching engaging and self-actualizing experiences. On the basis of the most recent evidence in literature, it will be discussed the possible advantages in using such advanced technologies for improving well-being in frail elderly: coupled with an increase in cognitive skills acquisition, the advantages may range increased self-efficacy and decreased subjective weakness, with a consequent improvement in both physical and cognitive performance.

This Drives Me Nuts!

Video games are an interesting example of technologies/media able to generate complex emotions. Indeed, part of the emotions commonly arising in the experience of video gamers are quite negative. On the one hand, video gamers may feel frustration and anger due to the difficulty of the gameplay. On the other hand, they may experience sadness, anxiety and fear due to the immersion into emotionally rich narratives. Yet, video gamers seem to appreciate gaming technologies generating negative emotions, and the research on media frequently highlights a counterintuitive positive relation between negative affect and enjoinment/well-being outcomes. Starting from these premises, the present chapter is aimed to review the negative emotions typical of video games, in order to understand in what ways they can concur in generating an overall positive experience. Then, the chapter discusses implications for research on video games as positive technologies, namely technologies able to promote well-being in their users.

Technologies for Participatory Wellbeing

The participatory health revolution is shaping consumers' health behaviors that are increasingly influence by people's desire to play an active role in promoting a positive life functioning. Technologies are addressing the emerging needs of the participatory health, as they favor a proactive users' attitude. This chapter describes the results of a software-assisted quali-quantitative study aimed at exploring the scientific debate about technological interventions for wellbeing in the era of participatory health. Based on the study's results, technologies for wellbeing in the participatory health era may be clustered depending on the “context of delivery,” on their degree of personalization,” and on their inner “conceptualization of positive interventions”. According to a consumer health engagement perspective, those technologies are not mutually exclusive but can coexist based on the specific wellness needs and health engagement expectations of their users.

Positive Technology

This chapter describes and discusses the “Positive Technology” approach: the scientific and applied approach for the use of technology in improving the quality of our personal experience through its structuring, augmentation and/or replacement - as a way for improving and sustaining personal change. On one side, we suggest that our cognitive system is naturally shaped to identify and counter the experiential conflicts that are usually the main motives for change. Optimal experiences, also defined as “flow experiences”, instead allow the individual to consider long-term personal goals differently and start to experiment with changing them. In other words optimal experiences, when meaningful for the individual, widen the array of thoughts and actions, facilitating generativity and behavioral flexibility. On the other side we claim that it is possible to use technology to manipulate the quality of experience, with the goal of increasing wellness, and generating strengths and resilience in individuals, organizations and society.

Serious Games and Gamified Tools for Psychological Intervention

Mobile technologies and technological advances in behavioral assessment have found their way in common healthcare practices. However, there are still few studies about videogame-based interventions to support concrete psychological treatments. While the market for self-help mobile apps is continuously increasing, in most cases, they are a mere digitalization of texts contained in self-help books and do not take advantage of the interactive and playful potential of devices on which they are offered. Nevertheless, a number of health games have been developed for children and adults for a variety of therapeutic purposes. The current chapter provides an overview of the state-of-the-art serious games currently available as psychological interventions across popular delivery formats (virtual reality environments, online and PC videogames). Where available, evidence about their efficacy is reported. These serious games have the potential to complement traditional psychological interventions and improve psychological wellbeing for people of all ages.

An Emerging Model of Pregnancy Care

Pregnancy is a very special time in a woman's life, a time of important and complex step that can lead to the fall the previous personal balances and looking for new. This phase potentially critical, is often accompanied by anxiety, negative emotions, worries and stress about themselves, the couple's life, the baby. Among the many interventions available for the welfare of pregnant women, new technologies are playing an increasingly important role, thanks to its spread, the lower costs and its peculiar characteristics (interactivity, sociality, customizability, ubiquity, multimediality, velocity, etc). Smartphones and tablets in particular are proving excellent tools to accompany women on this journey toward a healthy motherhood.

Tools for eMental-Health

This chapter focuses on how to develop tools for positive technology and more specifically, mobile e-mental health systems using a virtual stress counselor. The main objective is to develop a framework for mobile e-mental health systems reviewing existing e-mental health apps and discussing necessary system requirements. The chapter states that current e-mental health apps do not offer any facilities to promote social interaction between the counselor and the user. The proposed framework requires personalized interactions between a virtual counselor and a student. It provides personalized feedback to reduce stress level and enhances personal stress management strategies. This requires integration of technologies for facial expression detection, speech and emotion recognition as well as other psycho-physiological feedback. A prototype system for e-mental health has been developed and the components of the system architecture have been widely discussed including the need for a coping processor. Finally, conclusions are drawn regarding the tools for positive technology.

What Do Elderly Users Want and Need from Fitness Technologies?

It is well known that physical exercise has a significant beneficial effect on mental and physical health, and elderly fitness programs are a good and widely accepted approach to prevent frailty. In this chapter, we examine what elderly people actually want and need when it comes to technologies designed to support and encourage their physical fitness. We present the ELF@Home project as a case study, and report design insights and other results from user involvement in the project. User involvement is a key component of the approach and uses methods such as interviews, focus group meetings, early component and prototype tests with users, as well as inputs from medical experts. ELF@Home is a clear example of a “Positive Technology” approach. The project proposes the adoption of new technology in everyday life from the perspective of positive psychology, approaching this aim by designing devices and systems that are actually usable and desirable in supporting extended healthy living for this target population.

Augmenting Online Mental Health Support Services

The Internet allows mental health organisations to provide services to more people via new models of care. Amongst these, online support groups are becoming increasingly popular. This model of mental health service provision includes moderators who read posts, recognise those that need attention and provide support via online responses. However, as these groups become more popular they risk becoming more difficult to manage due to the sheer volume of posts. This challenge can be addressed through computational linguistics techniques. This chapter reports on work with a mental health organisation on three components to help scale up the number of people they can support. The design aims to go beyond helping end-users and explores how design can support the wellbeing of the moderators themselves. The design of the three components is discussed: 1) A triage component automatically detects posts that need a prompt response. 2) An intervention generator (IG) generates a draft response for the moderator to use, for example a positive psychology intervention. These two can help in the management of a discussion forum, supporting positive behaviours, not just dealing in situations of distress. 3) A component for synchronous support through an augmented chat system.

Positive Technology for Helping People Cope with Stress

The emerging convergence of new technologies and health care is offering a new approach to support effective interventions. This chapter aims to describe how Positive Technology can help people cope with stress in several contexts. On the one hand, the potential capacity of sensor technologies to offer individuals the technology with which to monitor certain biological signals known to be associated with stress might serve to promote engagement with a mediated experience for stress management. On the other hand, the chapter focuses on the hedonic and eudaimonic experiences supported by technology in terms of inducing positive affective states and supporting personal growth by teaching strategies to reduce stress and enhance well-being. To further connect mediated experiences with real ones, the Interreality approach (IR) allows for the combination of assessment and intervention as inseparable parts of the general process of coping with stress.