In the Sir Halley Stewart Trust funded project on digital health wearables (http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables/), we have been investigating whether and how wearable activity-tracking technologies (e.g. smart watches or activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin, etc.) can facilitate self-monitoring of activity and health by people aged 55 years and over, and by carers for monitoring the health and activity of the people they care for.



On the Sir Halley Stewart Trust-funded project (May 2016 - July 2017), through empirical investigations and in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes (MK), Carers MK, and GPs and healthcare professionals, we have identified: 



• challenges for adoption of these technologies; 

• the need to design for age-related impairments (e.g. vision, hearing, memory, dexterity);

• concerns related to data management, security and data privacy;

• positive behavioural changes of using activity monitoring devices, and, in general;

• the role of digital health wearables in caring, self-management of health, post-operative monitoring of mobility, and for monitoring movement and locations in conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 



Ageing population, retaining independence of older people, support to carers, and using internet-enabled technologies to transform healthcare services are some of the national concerns. We are now involved in a multi-way knowledge-exchange (KE) programme (April 2017 - January 2018) through an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Award to set up dialogues with/between key stakeholders including manufacturers for improving the design of digital health wearables for older users, carers and medical professionals

Banks, Duncan

Holland, Caroline

McNulty, Catherine

Minocha, Shailey

Tudor, Ana-Despina

English

Open Research Online (The Open University)

Open Research OnlineThe Open University’s repository of research publicationsand other research outputsInvestigating the role of wearable activity-trackingtechnologies in the well-being and quality of life ofpeople aged 55 and overConference or Workshop ItemHow to cite:Minocha, Shailey; Holland, Caroline; Banks, Duncan; McNulty, Catherine and Tudor, Ana-Despina (2017).Investigating the role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged55 and over. In: Wearable Technologies Special Interest Group, ACTIS (Advanced Clinical Technology InnovationSupport) programme, 10 May 2017, Kents Hill Park Training & Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, England.For guidance on citations see FAQs.c© The Open University, UKVersion: Version of RecordCopyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyrightowners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policiespage.oro.open.ac.uk5/15/171Investigating  the  role  of  wearable  activity-­tracking  technologies  in  the  well-­being  and  quality  of  life  of  people  aged  55  and  overShailey  Minocha,  Caroline  Holland,  Duncan  Banks,  Catherine  McNulty  and  Ana  Tudor  OUin  collaboration  with  Oxford  University,  Age  UK  Milton  Keynes,  Carers  MK  and  Samsung  UKMotivation  5/15/172GPs  and  healthcare  professionalspeople  aged  over  55  years  who  were  already  using  these  devicescarers and  people  they  care  forpeople  aged  over  55  years  who  hadn’t  used  these  devicesStakeholdersEvidence  baseusability  of  the  devices  interfacing  of  the  devices  with  appsethical  dilemmasmaking  sense  of  the  dataself-­monitoring  of  healthbehaviouralchanges  Evidence  base5/15/173GPs  and  healthcare  professionalspeople  aged  over  55  years  who  were  already  using  these  devicescarers and  people  they  care  forpeople  aged  over  55  years  who  hadn’t  used  these  devicesmanufacturersESRC  Knowledge  exchange  project  evidence  base  +  participantsCollaborators• Emeritus  Professor  Darrel  Ince,  The  Open  University• Mr Rohit Ail  and  Ms Qian  Shen,  Samsung  Electronics  R&D  Institute  UK• Mrs Sue  Bowering  and  Mr Robert  Benn,  Carers MK• Dr Kate  Hamblin  and  Dr George  Leeson,  The  Oxford  Institute  of  Population  Ageing,  University  of  Oxford• Mrs Jane  Palmer,  Age  UK  Milton  Keynes  (MK)5/15/174Project  website  and  contact  details• Project  website: http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-­health-­wearables/• Contact:  shailey.minocha@open.ac.uk• Twitter:  @ShaileyMinocha

Investigating the role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged 55 and over

In this Sir Halley Stewart Trust-funded project (May 2016 - July 2017) and in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes (MK) and Carers MK, our aim was to investigate whether and how wearable activity-tracking technologies can acceptably contribute towards self-monitoring of activity and health by people aged over 55. Example technologies include trackers from Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung, and smart watches. Typically, these devices record steps walked, sleep patterns, calories expended and heart rate. 



Physical activity helps preserve mobility and motor skills as we age. An author of a study reported in 2015 said: “Physical activity may create a ‘reserve’ that protects motor abilities against the effects of age-related brain damage”. While walking has been shown to lower the risk of many chronic diseases in older people, its role in falls prevention remains unclear; however, walking has been considered as a useful adjunct to increasing their physical activity. Walking has been shown to improve cognitive performance and reduce cognitive decline among older people. Our previous research has shown that walking with others can help reduce social isolation and loneliness among people aged 55 and over. 



Given the UK’s ageing profile and as part of the agendas of Active and Healthy Ageing and digital NHS, there is an increasing focus on maintaining health in later life and encouraging physical activity to preserve mobility and motor skills, and self-monitoring of health and medical conditions. In a 2015 survey by Trustmarque and YouGov, 81 per cent of respondents said they would like wearable devices to be used in healthcare to monitor vulnerable people or patients at home; helping patients follow diet and exercise regimes or courses of medicine: “self-monitoring devices … could help the NHS save at least 60 per cent on the average cost per patient”6. Monitoring during and after treatment could address the concerns about delayed hospital discharge.



Although we have focussed on activity monitors in this project, our underlying objective is to determine the service design requirements for digital health wearables for people aged over 55 years, carers, and people being cared for. This will enable us to inform the service design of these devices when they are employed in self-monitoring and self-management of health for managing some specific medical conditions, or during recuperation.



In this report, we present preliminary results from our empirical investigations

http://oro.open.ac.uk/43718/1/OU-Digital-Health-Wearables-Brief-Report-FINAL-ORO.pdf

Investigating the role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged 55 and over

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