Participatory Research to Design a Novel Telehealth System to Support the Night-Time Needs of People with Dementia: NOCTURNAL

Suzanne Martin, Juan Carlos Augusto, Paul McCullagh, William Carswell, Huiru Zheng, Haiying Wang, Jonathan Wallace and Maurice Mulvenna
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Suzanne Martin: Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK
Juan Carlos Augusto: School of Science and Technology, Middlesex University London, England NW4 4BT, UK
Paul McCullagh: Faculty of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK
William Carswell: Faculty of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK
Huiru Zheng: Faculty of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK
Haiying Wang: Faculty of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK
Jonathan Wallace: Faculty of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK
Maurice Mulvenna: Faculty of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB, UK

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Strategies to support people living with dementia are broad in scope, proposing both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions as part of the care pathway. Assistive technologies form part of this offering as both stand-alone devices to support particular tasks and the more complex offering of the “smart home” to underpin ambient assisted living. This paper presents a technology-based system, which expands on the smart home architecture, orientated to support people with daily living. The system, NOCTURNAL, was developed by working directly with people who had dementia, and their carers using qualitative research methods. The research focused primarily on the nighttime needs of people living with dementia in real home settings. Eight people with dementia had the final prototype system installed for a three month evaluation at home. Disturbed sleep patterns, night-time wandering were a focus of this research not only in terms of detection by commercially available technology but also exploring if automated music, light and visual personalized photographs would be soothing to participants during the hours of darkness. The NOCTURNAL platform and associated services was informed by strong user engagement of people with dementia and the service providers who care for them. NOCTURNAL emerged as a holistic service offering a personalised therapeutic aspect with interactive capabilities.

Keywords: dementia; ambient assisted living; participatory design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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