Supporting dementia care by monitoring indoor environmental quality in a nursing home

Abstract

The indoor environment quality in care facilities impacts residents’ daily lives. Sensor technology has been proven useful in evaluating the indoor environment of buildings, but the process of using this information to improve residents’ comfort, specifically in the context of nursing homes, is still underdeveloped. Thus, this study focuses on monitoring indoor environmental quality in a nursing home in the Netherlands, supported by professional caregivers’ insights. A campaign was conducted for one year to monitor eight rooms, and a mixed-method approach was used to collect and analyse the data on local weather, building facility operation and proxies’ responses to residents’ comfort. Seventeen care professionals and twenty-two guardians (visitors) answered questions based on their opinions and observation. The results show that the low indoor humidity during heating seasons and high CO2 concentration at night were the main factors leading to environment-related symptoms of residents and care professionals, such as dry eyes. Furthermore, we found that data outliers can help to reveal residents’ occupancy, ventilation habits and activity time, thus showing the application value of environmental sensors in dementia care. We also recommend using non-intrusive sensors for nursing home residents and taking into account room layouts and occupants’ conditions before installing sensors.

Environmental Design for People Living with Dementia

“…Some people living with dementia can experience a reduced sense of smell, which can negatively impact their experience of the environment. They may not notice smells that indicate danger, such as smoke or leaking gas [126], increasing the need for (preferably unobtrusive) safety measures such as smoke detectors, gas alarms, and other environmental sensors to be installed in indoor environments [127]. The loss of olfactory sensitivity can also diminish the ability of a person living with dementia to enjoy some positive aspects of daily life.…”

Enhancing Indoor Air Quality Estimation: A Spatially Aware Interpolation Scheme

“…The effective monitoring and a comprehensive understanding of the IAQ of indoor spaces are essential for an energysaving design and for improving human comfort. There is active research on techniques to effectively monitor and manage the IAQ utilizing IoT technologies as well as on the impact of the IAQ on the health of indoor occupants [4][5][6][7][8][9].…”