Vicious or Virtuous Cycle? The Privacy Implications of Active Assisted Living Technologies for Older People

A variety of technologies are being developed to help older people live healthier, more independent, and safer lives, for longer. While many of these technologies are positively impacting the lives of older adults, they also have the potential to dictate specific behaviours or restrict their autonomy rather than empower them. The vulnerability theory of privacy proposes that vulnerable populations are not only more likely to be susceptible to privacy violations, but are also disproportionately affected by said violations. In this position paper, we adapt the vulnerability theory of privacy to the older adult population, and identify a further potential exacerbatory cycle. The risk of a 'slippery slope' of privacy violation occurs when AAL technologies enable an elevated and quantified visibility of (mis)behaviour and irregular activity that could seem to justify the deployment of further AAL technology. We present ĝ€?FOR VERIFICATION>ratchet-wise rehabilitation' as an alternative vision to the ĝ€?FOR VERIFICATION>slippery slope' and identify research and design challenges throughout the paper

Technological Solutions for an Ageing Population : New Perspectives and Opportunities for Business Development

Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on lisätä ymmärrystä liiketoimijoiden näkökulmista ja mahdollisuuksista suunniteltaessa ikääntyville ihmisille teknologisia ratkaisuja avustamaan heidän arkeaan nyt ja tulevaisuudessa. Ikääntyvien ihmisten tarpeet muodostavat valtavan potentiaalin uusille teknologisille innovaatioille, palveluille ja tuotteille, jotka tukevat ikääntyvien itsenäistä ja aktiivista elämää. Heidän monimuotoisia ja eriäviä tarpeitaan ja teknologiaosaamistaan on kuitenkin tarpeen tutkia ja yksilöidä, jotta voidaan tarjota toivotunlaisia ratkaisuja. Tämä opinnäytetyö toteutettiin tutkimuksellisena työnä, joka koostuu teoreettisesta viitekehyksestä ja laadullisesta empiirisestä tutkimuksesta. Tutkimus toteutettiin puolistrukturoituina ryhmähaastatteluina kolmessa eri senioripalvelutalossa. Saatujen vastausten ja kirjallisuuskatsauksen perusteella analysoitiin ikääntyneiden ihmisten asenteita ja mieltymyksiä teknologisten ratkaisujen ja palvelujen suhteen. Yhteenvetona voidaan todeta, että ikääntyville suunnatun teknologian tulee olla helppokäyttöistä ja luotettavaa ja tarjota turvallisuutta jokapäiväiseen elämään. Palvelusuunnittelu ja monitieteinen lähestymistapa mahdollistavat toivotunlaisten teknologisten ratkaisujen tarjoamisen ikääntyville ihmisille. Lisäksi yksilön huomioiva, humaani lähestymistapa sekä oikea kanavointi ja menetelmät tarjoavat ikäihmisille parhaat mahdollisuudet tutustua käytettävissä olevaan teknologiaan ja siihen liittyvään tietoon.The aim of this research is to introduce perspectives and opportunities for businesses to be considered in designing technological solutions for older people to support their everyday life now and in the future. The needs of older adults generate a huge potential for new technological innovations, services and products which assist them to live independent and active life while aging. However, their divergent needs and technology knowledge need to be further studied and identified to provide them with the preferred solutions. First, this research-based thesis presents the theoretical framework in which the literature is reviewed and discussed. This is followed by the introduction of the employed qualitative research method. Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted in three senior service homes which generated the empirical data of the preferences and opinions of ageing people with regard to the technological tools and solutions. Finally, the results of the qualitative research are presented. As a conclusion, ageing population consists of a range of individuals with different physical, cognitive and social conditions. They prefer easy to operate and reliable technologies that provide them with safety for everyday life. Service design and interdisciplinary approach allow to deliver desired and preferred technological solutions for aging people. Furthermore, individualized and humane approach as well as the right channeling and practices provide optimal settings for the ageing people to become acquainted with technology and related information available

Uses and Attitudes of Old and Oldest Adults towards Self-Monitoring Health Systems

Oldest adults (80 years and over) are the fastest growing group in the total world population. This is putting pressure on national healthcare budgets, as the distribution of healthcare expenses is strongly age-dependent. One way of mitigating this burden may be to let older adults contribute to their own health directly by using self-management health systems (SMHS). SMHS might help older, including oldest, adults gain insight into their health status, and invite them to take action. However, while many studies report on user evaluations of older adults with one specific sensor system, fewer studies report on older adults’ uses and attitudes towards integrated SMHS. Moreover, most studies include participants with mean ages of 65 rather than 80. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study, consisting of a focus group interview and a user evaluation of an SMHS by 12 participants with a median age of 85 years. Three main findings were derived: Older adults (1) showed heterogeneity in computer skills, (2) found health technologies useful for others – not yet for themselves, and (3) perceived health technologies as a threat to social interaction. These findings suggest that health technologies are not ready for adoption by older adults yet, and further research on making them more accessible and desirable is required

Characterizing Natural User Interface with Wearable Smart Watches

Background - The emergence of new interaction paradigms makes the use of technology inrealizing the users??? natural ways of exploring the real world the ultimate goal of designers today.Research on interactive and immersive technologies for user interface design is still a challenging chore for engineers and scientists when it comes to designing natural interaction for wearable smart devices. To address the challenge, our study aims to develop guidelines for design practitioners in designing wearable smart watches that could offer natural user experiences. Methods - To better understand natural user experiences with smart watches, an extensive literature review was conducted. A quantitative survey with 80 participants was conducted, of which the focus was on the expected functions of smart watches. Based on the survey results, we selected eight participants in terms of technology familiarity. To achieve the objectives of our research, three studies were conducted: a design workshop (Study 1), a cultural probe (Study 2), and a focus group interview (Study 3). The design workshop was created to figure out the needs and wishes people have forsmart watches. In the cultural probe, the focus was on figuring out natural interactions with smart watches. Finally, the focus group interview aimed to gain more insights from the results of the cultural probe in terms of natural user interaction with particular functions. Results - To address the needs and wishes of the users toward wearable smartwatches, we made a subdivision into three categories, such as functions, input measures, and notification (feedback) methods. According to the results, participants wanted weather notification, health monitoring, and identification as expected functions. Regarding the methodof input, voice command and touch screen were preferred. In order to get feedback, most of the participantswanted vibrations, particularly as a reaction tocompleting the commands or inputs. There was also a suggestion to customize their smart watch. For example, users can select the functions and build their own command system, and even choose the notificationmethods. Considering natural user interface with respect to functions (weather, answering a call, navigation, health monitoring, taking a picture and messaging), specific natural user interfaces were mentioned for particular functions. Conclusions - Throughout the study, people???s needs and wishes and their perceptions about natural interaction were identified and the characteristics of natural user interfacesweredetermined. Based on the results, tenperceptions were specifically defined to provide a better understanding of smart watches in terms of natural interaction: user affinity of form, awareness by familiarity, reality correspondence, behavioral extension, purpose orientation, easiness of performance, timeliness, routine acceptance, generality, and rule of thumb. In addition to that, natural user interfaces were categorized into five groups: user familiarity, realistic interaction, accomplishment assistance, contextual appropriateness, and social awareness. In this study,we tried to identify what constitutes anatural interaction and how it should be created. The limitations and further study are discussed at the end.ope

What features and functions are desired in telemedical services targeted at polish older adults delivered by wearable medical devices? : pre-COVID-19 flashback

The emerging wearable medical devices open up new opportunities for the provision of health services and promise to accelerate the development of novel telemedical services. The main objective of this study was to investigate the desirable features and applications of telemedical services for the Polish older adults delivered by wearable medical devices. The questionnaire study was conducted among 146 adult volunteers in two cohorts (C.1: <65 years vs. C.2: ≥65 years). The analysis was based on qualitative research and descriptive statistics. Comparisons were performed by Pearson’s chi-squared test. The questionnaire, which was divided into three parts (1-socio-demographic data, needs, and behaviors; 2-health status; 3-telemedicine service awareness and device concept study), consisted of 37 open, semi-open, or closed questions. Two cohorts were analyzed (C.1: n = 77; mean age = 32 vs. C.2: n = 69; mean age = 74). The performed survey showed that the majority of respondents were unaware of the telemedical services (56.8%). A total of 62.3% of C.1 and 34.8% of C.2 declared their understanding of telemedical services. The 10.3% of correct explanations regarding telemedical service were found among all study participants. The most desirable feature was the detection of life-threatening and health-threatening situations (65.2% vs. 66.2%). The findings suggest a lack of awareness of telemedical services and the opportunities offered by wearable telemedical devices

Multimodal Wearable Intelligence for Dementia Care in Healthcare 4.0: A Survey

As a new revolution of Ubiquitous Computing and Internet of Things, multimodal wearable intelligence technique is rapidly becoming a new research topic in both academic and industrial fields. Owning to the rapid spread of wearable and mobile devices, this technique is evolving healthcare from traditional hub-based systems to more personalised healthcare systems. This trend is well-aligned with recent Healthcare 4.0 which is a continuous process of transforming the entire healthcare value chain to be preventive, precise, predictive and personalised, with significant benefits to elder care. But empowering the utility of multimodal wearable intelligence technique for elderly care like people with dementia is significantly challenging considering many issues, such as shortage of cost-effective wearable sensors, heterogeneity of wearable devices connected, high demand for interoperability, etc. Focusing on these challenges, this paper gives a systematic review of advanced multimodal wearable intelligence technologies for dementia care in Healthcare 4.0. One framework is proposed for reviewing the current research of wearable intelligence, and key enabling technologies, major applications, and successful case studies in dementia care, and finally points out future research trends and challenges in Healthcare 4.0