Project description
Technology-supported monitoring and coaching to help older people live at home longer
Helping older people live at home longer benefits their dignity and psychology as well as lowering the financial burden of healthcare systems and families. As the ageing population grows, this goal is becoming a priority. The EU-funded SAAM project will focus on innovative, technology-enabled approaches to support the ageing population at home. The project will investigate user needs via online, phone and face-to face interviews with older representatives, followed by focus groups and informative interviews with stakeholders. SAAM will develop a sensing system that covers activity-related parameters as well as physical and mental health indicators. Finally, the project will produce a coaching model, harnessing users’ social support networks.
Objective
As in the rest of the world, Europe faces an on-going crisis in caring for its aging population. Citizens are living much longer than ever before, with increasingly complex medical, social, and infrastructural needs, but most EU social support services and structures are lagging very much behind the growing need. While many efforts have focused on better access to healthcare and the expansion of assisted and social care housing, one of the main intervention points, enabling the aging population to remain in their homes longer, is just now becoming a primary developmental priority. Caring for the aging population as they transition from active and independent lifestyles to those requiring significant external support is a large and complex field, with many approaches to the great diversity of citizen need profiles. Within the SAAM project (Supporting Active Aging through Multimodal coaching) we focus upon innovative, technology-enabled approaches to support the aging population living at home, with a novel and practical emphasis on ambient sensing and learning of user needs and preferences, and effective coaching by leveraging the user’s social support networks. Over three years, the project’s partners will develop and test new methods allowing Europe’s aging population to remain active, independent and longer in their homes.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phones
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
1000 Sofia
Bulgaria