A systematic review of dementia focused assistive technology

Evans, Joanna; Brown, Michael; Coughlan, Tim; Lawson, Glyn; Craven, Michael P.

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review which explores the nature of assistive technologies currently being designed, developed and evaluated for dementia sufferers and their carers. A search through four large databases, followed by filtering by relevance, led to the identification and subsequent review of papers. Our review revealed that the majority of research in this area focuses on the support of day-to-day living activities, safety monitoring, memory aids and preventing social isolation. We conclude that the majority of AT currently available support day-to-day living activities, safety monitoring and assisting healthcare. However these devices merely address the ‘ease of living’ rather than focusing on ‘quality of life’. Although there are some devices which address social symptoms of Dementia, few address behavioural issues such as aggression and virtually none are available to support recreational activities. After discussing the implications of these findings, we finally reflect on general design issues for assistive technologies in this domain that became apparent during the review.

Citation

Evans, J., Brown, M., Coughlan, T., Lawson, G., & Craven, M. P. (2015). A systematic review of dementia focused assistive technology. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, 9170, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20916-6_38

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jul 21, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 16, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 16, 2016
• Journal: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Electronic ISSN: 0302-9743
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9170
• Book Title: Human-Computer Interaction: Interaction Technologies
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20916-6_38
• Keywords: Human centered design, User centered design, Adaptive and personalized interfaces, Interaction design, New technology and its usefulness, Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Assistive technology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/756430
• Publisher URL: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-20916-6_38
• Additional Information: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20916-6_38; ; Chapter in: Human-computer interaction: interaction technologies: 17th International Conference, HCI International 2015, Los Angeles, CA, USA, August 2-7, 2015, Proceedings, Part II ISBN 978-3-319-20915-9
• Contract Date: Feb 16, 2016