Exploring digital health solutions for the elderly living with chronic illness
The EU-funded SEURO project has begun recruiting participants in Belgium, Ireland and Sweden to test its new health and well-being system. The trial will show whether older people with multiple chronic health conditions can better self-manage at home using SEURO’s digital technology. The 6-month trial is open to people in the three EU Member States who are aged over 65 and have two or more of the following chronic conditions: diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis), chronic asthma, heart failure, and chronic heart disease (angina, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and arrhythmia). Stroke sufferers and people with vascular dementia are excluded. During the trial, 720 participants will try out a new digital technology intended to help them better self-manage their health and well-being at home. There is no need to be familiar with computers as the SEURO researchers will provide support throughout the trial. People in the older person’s care and support network – family members, informal carers and healthcare professionals – are also welcome to participate. As explained in a news item posted on the ‘Dublin People’ website, the trial will explore how to empower people to gain better control of their health and well-being, supported if necessary by their care network. It will also help the project team assess if the technology can help improve users’ quality of life and the way they use healthcare services.
A much-needed area of research
“SEURO uses a technology called ProACT that has great potential to help older people with multiple chronic conditions to better manage their health and wellbeing at home, but there has been limited research and trials to examine this,” states Dr Julie Doyle of SEURO project partner Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland. “The SEURO trial will allow us to gather evidence to test whether this type of technology improves peoples’ health and wellbeing and why it does or does not. By participating in the SEURO trial, you will be making a significant contribution to this very exciting and much-needed area of research and if selected to test the technology, you may experience improvements in the management of your conditions.” Participation in the trial is completely voluntary, and participants can decide to withdraw from the study at any time. Contact details are provided on the SEURO website for anyone interested in participating in the study or simply getting more information. The SEURO (Scaling EUROpean citizen driven transferable and transformative digital integrated health and social care) project is exploring the optimisation and transferability of digital health solutions across the EU by developing different digital self-assessment tools. To achieve its goals, it has brought together academic and research institutions, SMEs, health service providers, EU networks and multinational corporations. The 3-year project ends in May 2024. For more information, please see: SEURO project website
Keywords
SEURO, health, well-being, chronic condition, elderly, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, heart failure, heart disease, healthcare