Go to previous article
Go to next article
Return to 2005 Table of Contents
Presenter(s)
Victor Emerson, Ph.D.
Acuity Research Group Inc.
P.O. Box 23096, 2121 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2A 4E2
613-722-3455
Email: victor@acuityresearchgroup.com
Frank Knoefel, M.D.
SCO Health Service
43 Bruyère Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5C8
613-562-2459
Email: fknoefel@scohs.on.ca
Barbara Schulman, M.H.A.
SCO Health Service
43 Bruyère Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5C8
613-562-6012
Email: bschulma@scohs.on.ca
Background
The aging of the baby boom generation poses many challenges, both to society and to the individual. Although most older adults prefer to remain in their own residences (known as "aging in place"), older adults are prone to suffer functional limitations that may require the individual to undergo geriatric rehabilitation, perhaps followed by discharge to a long-term care facility rather than a return to the individual's own home. Aside from the perceived loss of independence felt by the older adult, this solution can be expensive, both for the individual and the family, and for society as a whole.
In some cases, the migration of older adults to long-term care facilities may be preventable if the home environment can be made more supportive. Existing or potential solutions, usually relying on emerging technologies, may provide a "technological safety net" that both lessens the burden on the older adult and can help de-risk the home environment.
As an example, consider the case of the older adult who needs to have his or her blood pressure monitored. While ideally blood pressure would be monitored more frequently than daily, the current practice is to go to the physicians' office. Requiring an older adult to arrange this transportation, including venturing out during February in a typical Canadian winter, is time-consuming for the patient and the caregiver, and incurs a level of risk that borders on the unacceptable. The other typical alternative - having a nurse visit the home - is time consuming for the nurse and not without risk.
The TAFETA project
TAFETA (Technology Assisted Friendly Environment for the Third Age) is a Canadian programme initially designed to support aging in place for older adult. Through primary research involving a team of physicians, system designers, user needs specialists, and others, TAFETA is working to identify opportunities for solutions that are both useful and acceptable.
TAFETA focuses on two general types of applications: tele-health and the home safety net. Tele-health enables health indicators to be monitored remotely. The individual attaches a sensor, and a home-based system takes the readings and transmits them to a health professional at a remote location. In this way, the health professional can take measurements from many more people than would be possible driving from location to location, and each individual need only take a few minutes out of his or her day to permit the measurement to be made while at home.
Moreover, the geographic distance between the individual and the health professional is unimportant; this system works as well for rural populations as for urban dwellers. The home safety net is intended for persons who have a functional limitation or are otherwise identified as being at risk. Here, "functional limitation" could be a temporary disability (such as a broken wrist or hip) or a more permanent limitation (for example, mobility impairment linked to multiple sclerosis). In terms of de-risking the home, there is a wide range of possible solutions. At the low end (in terms of intrusiveness), the person may be provided with a body-worn "Alert" button that calls a monitoring service in the event of a fall or other emergency. A more elaborate solution might consist of motion detectors connected to a system programmed to call for help if no motion is detected for a defined period. Of course, other solutions are possible, and are being explored.
Who is TAFETA intended for?
On the one hand, the potential negative social and economic impacts of having to support large numbers of aging baby-boomers in long-term care facilities is daunting. On the other hand, like all good clouds, this one may have a silver lining for many other members of society.
The economic power of the baby-boom generation, and their numbers, provide a strong impetus to develop solutions to support independent living. This motivation, coupled with the growing impact of Universal Design, helps ensure that solutions verified as suitable for older adults are also appropriate for other groups, including persons in a rural environment and persons with disabilities.
The research orientation of the TAFETA project is described in detail in the presentation. Aspects of our research effort that are distinctive include a focus on inclusiveness; only by verifying the needs of key populations can one ensure that the resulting solutions are appropriate and will be well accepted. In addition, TAFETA's user focus helps ensure that the user is at the centre of the process from initial concept through to concept verification, not only for individual assistive products but also for environments, such as TAFETA's "smart apartment".
Closing
Several decades ago, the science of Psychology was criticized for being the study of the white male undergraduate and the albino laboratory rat. In a similar sense, much of the traditional research conducted for product design has marginalized sizeable portions of the population, including older adults, persons with disabilities, and rural populations. The TAFETA team believes that initiatives such as its tele-health research help provide an inclusive research environment where the needs of diverse user groups are considered in developing solutions that will ultimately benefit us all.
Go to previous article
Go to next article
Return to 2005 Table of Contents