Development of Technologies for Monitoring Health in the Home - Social Health Monitoring and Support

Abstract

In reviewing ethnographic studies of elders with dementia who live at home, we identified several areas where those elders and caregivers were struggling to maintain their quality of life. One of those areas was in maintaining social connectedness with friends and relatives. For a variety of reasons, elders, particularly those suffering from early stages of dementia, have difficulty maintaining connections to their family, friends, and community. Many studies have shown that a decline in social health precipitates further decline in overall health. If social health can be supported, this may have an impact on overall health, and will certainly help maintain an elder’s quality of life and sense of purpose. Our intent is to use technology in the form of unobtrusive sensors in the elder’s home to monitor their social health, and to display this information in a compelling way to family caregivers and to the elders themselves. The belief is that this information will lead to improvements to social connectedness. In providing feedback to the elder on their social health, they may become more proactive in initiating social contact. In providing this feedback to the caregiver, the caregiver may develop strategies to maintain the social health of the elder. This study is an initial pilot study, and has three primary goals. First, to test the reliability of our mote-based sensor networks in real home environments. Second, to validate the use of sensors to reliably track social activity. Third, to gather preliminary data on the effectiveness of social feedback displays for elders and for their caregivers.