In-Home Monitoring Technology for Aging in Place: Scoping Review

Abstract

Background For successful aging-in-place strategy development, in-home monitoring technology is necessary as a new home modification strategy. Monitoring an older adult’s daily physical activity at home can positively impact their health and well-being by providing valuable information about functional, cognitive, and social health status. However, it is questionable how these in-home monitoring technologies have changed the traditional residential environment. A comprehensive review of existing research findings should be utilized to characterize recent relative technologies and to inform design considerations. Objective The main purpose of this study was to classify recent smart home technologies that monitor older adults’ health and to architecturally describe these technologies as they are used in older adults’ homes. Methods The scoping review method was employed to identify key characteristics of in-home monitoring technologies for older adults. In June 2021, four databases, including Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Scopus, were searched for peer-reviewed articles pertaining to smart home technologies used to monitor older adults’ health in their homes. We used two search strings to retrieve articles: types of technology and types of users. For the title, abstract, and full-text screening, the inclusion criteria were original and peer-reviewed research written in English, and research on monitoring, detecting, recognizing, analyzing, or tracking human physical, emotional, and social behavior. The exclusion criteria included theoretical, conceptual, or review papers; studies on wearable systems; and qualitative research. Results This scoping review identified 30 studies published between June 2016 and 2021 providing overviews of in-home monitoring technologies, including (1) features of smart home technologies and (2) sensor locations and sensor data. First, we found six functions of in-home monitoring technology among the reviewed papers: daily activities, abnormal behaviors, cognitive impairment, falls, indoor person positioning, and sleep quality. Most of the research (n=27 articles) focused on functional monitoring and analysis, such as activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, or falls among older adults; a few studies (n=3) covered social interaction monitoring. Second, this scoping review also found 16 types of sensor technologies. The most common data types encountered were passive infrared motion sensors (n=21) and contact sensors (n=19), which were used to monitor human behaviors such as bodily presence and time spent on activities. Specific locations for each sensor were also identified. Conclusions This wide-ranging synthesis demonstrates that in-home monitoring technologies within older adults’ homes play an essential role in aging in place, in that the technology monitors older adults’ daily activities and identifies various health-related issues. This research provides a key summarization of in-home monitoring technologies that can be applied in senior housing for successful aging in place. These findings will be significant when developing home modification strategies or new senior housing.

Perspectives on the popularization of smart senior care to meet the demands of older adults living alone in communities of Southwest China: A qualitative study

“…Additionally, the emergency care demands of the elders living alone are particularly significant. Unlike some other countries (36,61), present-day China lacks long-term telecare such as remote consultation and one-click alarm calls for help (62). With the development of science and technology, smart senior care is expected to provide medical services and emergency rescue measures, filling the gap in family care, thus creating a safe and secure environment for older adults who live alone (63).…”

“…However, smart senior care still provides a new idea and option for senior care with the potential to promote safety and independence for the elders through discovering and preventing accidents, alerting, and locating (35). Through the monitoring of daily activities, abnormal behaviors such as falls, and cognitive anomalies, the wellbeing of the solo-living senior citizens can be guaranteed to a greater extent (36). Continuous monitoring is crucial for those living alone, which allows for the provision of the unremitting health status of older adults (37), realizing early detection and diagnosis of diseases, and can improve the quality of life and reduce the waste of medical resources (38).…”

Understanding acceptance of contactless monitoring technology in home-based dementia care: a cross-sectional survey study among informal caregivers

“…We operationalized acceptance of different sensor types as follows: Participants were asked to what extent they consider the use of different sensor types as acceptable in the care of their loved one with dementia, on a Likert scale from 1 (very unacceptable) to 5 (very acceptable). Based on recent reviews on sensor devices for human activity recognition ( 11 , 12 , 41 ), we included seven different contactless sensor types, categorized into either “device-free” sensors (stand-alone sensors placed into the living space), or “device-bound” sensors (sensors bound to devices in the living space). Device-free sensor types included: (1) RF-based sensors (e.g., radar), (2) audio sensors (e.g., microphones, smart speakers), (3) camera-based sensors (cameras that generate anonymized footage, i.e., images in which faces are not recognizable), (4) light sensors (sensors which detect whether the light is on or off), and (5) temperature/humidity sensors.…”

Editorial: Technological innovations to address social isolation and loneliness in older adults

“…Digital technology not only has enhanced convenience and affordability for social connection, it also provides an array of new opportunities to enrich the daily lives of older adults ( 8 ). Through the examples of voice-control devices, games, or home-based sensor systems, we are peeping into a future where artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IOT), and ambient and wearable sensor technologies are increasingly interwoven with human behavior, offering new possibilities to enable the older adults with disabilities and functional limitations.…”