Coping with Senior Citizens with Dementia in Finnish Communities:Based on interviews with experts on elderly care utilizing fictional cases

本研究の目的は,高齢者ケアの有識者の認識を通してフィンランドの地域における認知症高齢者への典型的な対応を明らかにし,日本の認知症ケアへの示唆を得ることである. フィンランドの高齢者ケアの実際や制度について一定の知識をもつケア専門職の教育機関の教員4名と通訳者1名に対して,模擬事例2ケース(75歳女性,アルツハイマー型認知症,独居,時間の見当識障害のある事例と排泄動作の障害のある事例)を提示し,家族,地域住民,専門職の対応の仕方などについて聞き取った.各質問項目への回答について,意味内容の類似性に従って分類した. 対象者は全員フィンランド人女性であり,年齢は,60歳代が2名,40歳代が2名,50歳代が1名であった.模擬事例への回答結果として,近隣住民は認知機能が低下した高齢者について家族や保健センターのホームケア部門に相談すること,服薬管理においては家族やホームケアナースが責任を持っていることなどが語られた.また,服薬管理において機器が活用されていること,メモリーナースが認知機能のテストや医師への紹介を行うことについても述べられた. 以上より,日本にすでに存在する地域包括支援センター等の機関の地域住民への周知と多様なソーシャル・サポートとの連携のあり方の検討の必要性,認知症ケアに携わるさまざまな専門職の役割の明確化,在宅ケアにおけるICTの活用など,日本における認知症ケアへの示唆が得られた

Perceptions of home care robots among care professionals

Because of the workforce shortage in Japan, the use of home-care robots, or carebots, is increasingly perceived as a realistic option. Developing and implementing these carebots requires careful consideration of the ethical implications for all types of users. Few studies, however, have addressed the ethical principles and concepts involved in carebot use, and consequently, the discussion regarding roboethics in the home-care environment has been inadequate. This questionnaire study explored the relationship between the willingness of home-care professionals to use carebots, their experiences with robots, and their ethical perceptions. The principal factors affecting home-care staff perceptions were perceived benefit, use of personal information, the protection of privacy, and perceptions of risk. While perceived benefit was the common predictor affecting home-care staff willingness to use a robot for the care of all user types, concerns regarding the use of personal information were more prominent for older people.Pfizer Health Research FoundationJapan Society for the Promotion of Scienc

Home-care robots - Attitudes and perceptions among older people, carers and care professionals in Ireland: A questionnaire study

Many countries face major challenges to ensure that their health and social care systems are ready for the growing numbers of older people (OP). As a way of realising ageing in place, assistive technologies such as home-care robots are expected to play a greater role in the future. In Asia and Europe, robots are gradually being adopted as a public policy solution to the workforce shortage. Yet, there is still a strongly held belief that such technologies should not be part of human and personal care services such as OP's care. However, there has been little research into attitudes and perceptions of potential users regarding home-care robots which can provide companionship and support with activities of daily living. To explore these in more detail, a questionnaire study was carried out in Finland, Ireland and Japan. This study reports findings from the Irish cohort (114 older people [OP], 8 family carers and 56 Health and Social Care Professionals [HSCPs]). Seventy per cent of the total respondents (N = 178) reported being open to the use of home-care robots, and only one quarter had a negative image of robots. People with care responsibilities in their private capacity expressed more interest in, and readiness to use, home-care robots, while stressing the importance of 'privacy protection' and 'guaranteed access to human care'. Both OP and HSCPs identified observation and recording of OP's mental and physical condition as desirable functions of such robots, whereas practical functions such as fall prevention and mobility support were also deemed desirable by HSCPs. There is generally positive interest in home-care robots among Irish respondents. Findings strongly suggest that the interest is generated partly by great need among people who deliver care. Should such robots be developed, then careful consideration must be given to user-centred design, ethical aspects and national care policy

Efficient Active Sensing with Categorized Further Explorations for a Home Behavior-Monitoring Robot

Mobile robotics is a potential solution to home behavior monitoring for the elderly. For a mobile robot in the real world, there are several types of uncertainties for its perceptions, such as the ambiguity between a target object and the surrounding objects and occlusions by furniture. The problem could be more serious for a home behavior-monitoring system, which aims to accurately recognize the activity of a target person, in spite of these uncertainties. It detects irregularities and categorizes situations requiring further explorations, which strategically maximize the information needed for activity recognition while minimizing the costs. Two schemes of active sensing, based on two irregularity detections, namely, heuristic-based and template-matching-based irregularity detections, were implemented and examined for body contour-based activity recognition. Their time cost and accuracy in activity recognition were evaluated through experiments in both a controlled scenario and a home living scenario. Experiment results showed that the categorized further explorations guided the robot system to sense the target person actively. As a result, with the proposed approach, the robot system has achieved higher accuracy of activity recognition

X-ray analysis of bilirubin oxidase from Myrothecium verrucaria at 2.3 Å resolution using a twinned crystal

The crystal structure of bilirubin oxidase (BOD) from M. verrucaria has been determined at 2.3 Å resolution using a merohedrally twinned crystal. BOD has four copper-coordination sites that are almost identical to those of other multicopper oxidases and is also very similar to them in overall structure