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Eldercare Review | Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Dementia care has numerous advantages, such as providing care for our loved ones, offering flexibility to meet the changing needs of loved ones, and providing individualized care and communication.
Alzheimer's disease is a neurological disorder in which a person's cognitive and functional abilities decline beyond what is expected as they age. Eventually, dementia patients become utterly dependent on their caregivers. Over 55 million people around the world suffer from dementia, and 10 million new cases are reported every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Technology has revolutionized dementia care as the incidence and prevalence of dementia have increased. Here the benefits, opportunities, and concerns associated with technology-based tools for dementia care are being examined.
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A patient-centric tool or a caretaker-centric tool can be used. Most technology-based solutions are patient-centric. Therefore, they offer the greatest potential for innovation, research, business, and growth. The following paragraphs discuss these topics.
Technology-based devices can track and manage the lifestyle habits of dementia patients. Wearables, smart watches, or skin-friendly patches and straps are popular devices. Data is collected about physical activity, nutrition, sleep, stress, motion, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood glucose. Lifestyle tracking devices can analyze patients' data and generate actionable insights. For example, they can monitor sleep quality in dementia patients and detect abnormalities. It is, therefore, possible for patients or their caregivers to meet with a physician or alter some lifestyle habits as a result. Halo wearable, Apple Watch, and Samsung health are a few examples of commercial products.
Patients with severe dementia or those living alone need safety and security in addition to lifestyle management. Embedded sensors play a crucial role in ensuring this. For instance, home activity monitoring of dementia patients uses data from sensors such as bed occupancy, night lamp usage, humidity, location, motion, gas leakage, flood detection, smoke, and enuresis. If fatal events such as wandering, falls, or kitchen-related emergencies occur, these systems can automatically notify caregivers or physicians. One example is the CARU smart sensor, which identifies deviations from expected baseline behavior in patients. Through the CARU sensor, patients can communicate with family and friends via speech or touch.
It is important for dementia patients to maintain independence while managing their lifestyle and ensuring their security. The rehabilitation of functional and cognitive abilities is crucial in this regard. In cognitive rehabilitation therapies such as reminiscent therapy, stimulated presence therapy, and multisensory therapy, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) can be used to assist patients. Through interactive games like MI-Tale, logical reasoning can be enhanced, and memory can be stimulated. Using robots for home-based training can also improve the activities of daily living of dementia patients, such as cooking, washing, feeding, grooming, dressing, brushing their teeth, drinking water, and shopping.
Assisting patients with psychological distress is another critical aspect of dementia care. Robots are widely used in this context. In dementia patients and their caretakers, robotherapy has been shown to reduce agitation, depression, anxiety, impulsiveness, restlessness, and chronic pain. The improvements occur over time, not immediately. PARO, NeCORO, Ollie the Baby Otter, and Hugby Laugh are examples of commercialized robots. Since it is difficult to visit hospitals, physiotherapists, or psychiatrists on a regular basis, technology holds immense potential in this area. Dementia patients can cope with behavioral and psychological symptoms with the help of home-based tools.
A deeper understanding of patients' and caretakers' expectations is crucial to dementia care solutions. A systematic review and meta-analysis of technology usage in dementia care indicate that observed patient satisfaction is lower than expected. Patients and caretakers can overcome this gap by auditing products or services before adopting them. It is also important to understand the nature of the gap (technical or conceptual) and improve the products and services accordingly.
Technology-based dementia care solutions must ensure patients' privacy. Data collection and usage protocols must be explained to dementia patients and caregivers. For example, patients and caregivers must be informed about the type of data collected and the frequency and purposes of data collection in a home environment with embedded sensors. Afterward, patients and caregivers can restrict the collection of sensitive information. Furthermore, solution providers must inform patients and caregivers about privacy risks. Putting patients' privacy first ensures a reliable and trusted environment that ensures quality care.
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