Sensor-Enabled Elder Social Support Platform

描述(由申请人提供)：随着老年人的年龄增长，他们需要越来越多的适应性援助和照顾，来自他们的照顾者-通常是忙碌的或偏远的人。随着婴儿潮一代准备退休，需要支持的绝对人数将远远超过国家提供专业照顾者的能力。此外，国家将无法负担那些能够在适当的老年技术支持下(半)独立生活的老年人的住宿护理费用。这个项目将探索利用综合信息和测量技术的可行性，以帮助延长老年人在其住宿环境中的独立期，以提高生活质量和降低总护理成本。特别是，该项目将研究身体、行为和心理社会数据的(半)自动化家庭收集、分析和适当分发如何能够使老年人在其社会支持网络成员的支持下保持这种独立性。持续手动收集与患者健康相关的行为数据(例如体重、血压)很容易出错，而且往往由于患者遵从性差而不完整，即使使用定制的情景感知提醒也是如此。通过选择通用和专用Wi-Fi、RFID、USB和蓝牙传感器来增强Kinnexxus系统，人们可能能够自动获取一些信息。这一阶段的重点是技术整合的可行性，而进一步的工作将侧重于采用增强型传感器系统的可行性。这项研究的具体目标是开发一种系统的方法来选择、评估、调整、整合和配置传感器和服务的组合，以论证灵活而稳健地扩展到Kinnexxus平台的可行性，以支持老年人的日常活动。该项目将检查有关(远程)维护、安装和配置、架构集成、可用性、可靠性、精确度和电池寿命的问题，并测试配备了几种最有希望的传感器组合(针对特定情况)的Kinnexxus系统，以验证模型并评估其有效性和可用性。该项目采用两种主要方法：1)根据多属性效用理论开发属性和权重的描述性框架，指定不同的传感器特征，如测量属性、接口要求、精度和互操作性；2)通过灵活的体系结构将一组具有代表性的传感器集成到Kinnexxus平台中，对属性和权重进行实验验证和校准。 与公共健康相关：通过提供一个可适应的老年人服务亭，连接健康和行为传感器，供老年人在其住所使用，通过互联网连接到可定制的社交网络，将老年人与家人、临床医生和其他照顾者联系起来，可以增强就地老龄化、提高生活质量并降低成本。这个信息站和系统的一个重要作用是在适当的时间和地点向老年人提供有用的提醒，以便收集生物特征、行为和养生方案遵守情况的信息，并以适合老年人支持网络中不同成员所扮演的角色的方式分发和分析这些信息。就地老龄化已成为公共卫生的一个极其重要的考虑因素，特别是由于婴儿潮一代即将退休和老龄化，他们将需要适当的老年技术来支持他们在年老时的独立性，同时减少用于老年人护理的公共支出。PHS 398/2590(11/07版)页面续格式页面

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As elders age, they need increasing amounts of adaptive assistance and care from their caregivers- people who are often busy or remote. With the baby boomer generation preparing to retire, the sheer number of people who will need support will far outstrip the nation's ability to provide professional caregivers. Furthermore, the nation will not be able to afford residential care costs for those elders who could live (semi- )independently with appropriate gerontechnological support. This project will explore the feasibility of utilizing integrated information and measurement technology to help extend the period of an elder's independence in their residential setting, with improved quality of life and reduced total cost of care. In particular, the project will examine how the (semi-)automated in-home collection, analysis, and appropriate distribution of physical, behavioral, and psychosocial data might enable elders to maintain this independence, with support from members of their social support network. Ongoing manual collection of patient health-related behavioral data (e.g., weight, blood pressure) is error-prone and often incomplete due to poor patient compliance, even with customized, context-aware reminders. By augmenting the Kinnexxus system with a selection of the general and special purpose Wi-Fi, RFID, USB and Bluetooth sensors, one might be able to automate some of the information acquisition. This phase focuses on the feasibility of technology integration, while further work will focus on the feasibility of adoption of the enhanced sensor-enabled system. The study's specific objectives are to develop a systematic approach to selecting, evaluating, adapting, integrating and configuring combinations of sensors and services to demonstrate the feasibility of a flexible yet robust extension to the Kinnexxus platform, supporting elders' everyday activities. The project will examine issues regarding (remote) maintenance, installation and configuration, architected integration, usability, reliability, precision, and battery life, and test a Kinnexxus system outfitted with several of the most promising sensor combinations (for specific situations), in order to validate the model and assess the effectiveness and usability. The project adopts two primary methods: 1) development of a descriptive framework of attributes and weights according to multi-attribute utility theory, specifying different sensor features such as measurement attributes, interfacing requirements, precision and interoperability, and 2) experimental validation of the attributes and calibration of the weights by integrating and evaluating a representative set of sensors into the Kinnexxus platform via a flexible architecture. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Aging-in-place can be enhanced, quality of life extended, and costs reduced by providing an adaptable elder kiosk with attached health and behavioral sensors for an elder to use in his/her residence, connecting by Internet to a customizable social network that links the elder with family members, clinicians and other caregivers, wherever they are located. An important role played by this kiosk and system is to provide useful reminders to the elder at the appropriate time and place in order to collect biometric, behavioral and regimen compliance information, and to distribute and analyze such information in a way that is appropriate to the roles played by the various members of the elder's support network. Aging-in-place has become an extremely important consideration for public health, due especially to the pending retirement and aging of the baby boomer generation, who will need appropriate gerontechnology to support their independence as they age, while reducing public expenditures for elder care. PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 11/07) Page Continuation Format Page