M. Boulay

Caregivers' requirements for in-home robotic agent for supporting community-living elderly subjects with cognitive impairment

Older people are an important and growing sector of the population. This demographic change raises the profile of frailty and disability within the worlds population. In such conditions, many old people need aides to perform daily activities. Most of the support is given by family members who are now a new target in the therapeutic approach. With advances in technology, robotics becomes increasingly important as a means of supporting older people at home. In order to ensure appropriate technology, 30 caregivers filled out a self-administered questionnaire including questions on needs to support their proxy and requirements concerning the robotic agents functions and modes of action. This paper points out the functions to be integrated into the robot in order to support caregivers in the care of their proxy. The results also show that caregivers have a positive attitude towards robotic agents.

Robotic agents for supporting community-dwelling elderly people with memory complaints Perceived needs and preferences

Researchers in robotics have been increasingly focusing on robots as a means of supporting older people with cognitive impairment at home. The aim of this study is to explore the elderly’s needs and preferences towards having an assistive robot in the home. In order to ensure the appropriateness of this technology, 30 subjects aged 60 and older with memory complaints were recruited from the Memory Clinic of the Broca Hospital. We conducted an interview-administered questionnaire that included questions about their needs and preferences concerning robot functions and modes of action. The subjects reported a desire to retain their capacity to manage their daily activities, to maintain good health and to stimulate their memory. Regarding robot functions, the cognitive stimulation programme earned the highest proportion of positive responses, followed by the safeguarding functions, fall detection and the automatic help call.

L’aide aux personnes souffrant de maladie d’Alzheimer et à leurs aidants par les gérontechnologies

The increasing number of people suffering from Alzheimers disease raises the question of their caring at home, especially when the disease causes disability and negative consequences in daily life such as isolation, falls, wandering, errors in drug taking. Furthermore, caregivers bear a substantial burden that can have adverse effects on their physical and mental health. New technologies of information could play an additional role as care providers without substituting family or professional caregivers help. A review of literature focused on the different technological solutions conceived for patients suffering from Alzheimers disease and their carers shows that these appliances could help to provide reminders in daily life (drugs, tasks and appointments, meals cooking), to activate residual cognitive resources by computerized cognitive stimulation intervention, to reduce stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms in patients by visual contact with families and professionals (webconference), to contribute to patients safety by detecting falls and wandering, and to help families in the caring of patients with computerized information and counselling interventions. We also discuss the current limitations for a widespread use of these technologies and outline future research avenues. True needs of end-users are still poorly known and should be more clearly defined. Simplicity of the use of these appliances should be further improved. Demonstration of medical and social benefits for elderly people should be carried out in randomized, controlled studies. Ethical reflexion should be developed in conjunction with the use of these gerontechnologies. Finally, the economical model which would enable the providing of these appliances to the largest number of patients and caregivers should be implemented. Although these gerontechnologies are promising, research is still needed to tailor them properly to the needs of end-users, assess their benefit in ecological context of people with Alzheimers disease in order to provide them with appropriate tools in daily life.

Acceptance of social assistive robots to support older adults with cognitive impairment and their caregivers

low (very poor or poor) for overall scientific validity and reliability. In terms of appropriateness of the human-computer interface for an older adult population, the majority of tests (10/16) scored fair across all criteria. The scores for ethics-associated factors were the lowest over all criteria evaluated, a majority of tests scored very poor (9/16), and the remainder (7/16) scored poor.Conclusions:Overall, the scientific quality of freely accessible tests online is low and these tests conform poorly to conventional guidelines around consent, conflict of interest and other ethical considerations. These findings have significant implications for the growing computer-literate older adult population. The issues uncovered suggest that further evidence and informed policy are needed to promote the greatest benefits from tools and information available on the Internet.

Assistive technologies for older adults with Alzheimer's disease: the Lusage user-lab experience

Background: The goals of this study are to critically review and analyze currently employed road test designs from published research studies involving cognitively impaired older drivers in order to define potential improvements that would enhance reliability, accuracy and validity. Methods: A literature review is complemented by detailed analyses of selected road test studies fromBrown andWashington Universities. We examine 1) inter-rater reliability of driving instructors from different geographic regions, 2) weighting bias by driving instructors in forming global impressions, 3) weighting of individual road test items by the instructors in forming global impressions, and 4) comparisons of road test and naturalistic home driving components using factor analysis.Results: Driving performance scores for videotaped home driving epochs by two driving instructors were modestly correlated. Differences in global impressions were partially attributable to the items of driving ability that were emphasized. Road test scores were unidimensional and reflected by a major factor related to awareness of signage and traffic behavior, while naturalistic home driving reflected two factors related to lane keeping as well as traffic behavior. Conclusions: Despite differences in geography and local driving regulations and practices, we have demonstrated that road test courses and driving examination scales can be harmonized; however, refinement in this area is still needed. Further improvements could include development of nationwide standards for scoring methodology for driving examiners, as well as road courses that incorporate the special challenges to examining the older driver in a more naturalistic and valid way.