Ageing population, care services and needs for ambient technology

Päivi Topo

Email: paivi.topo@thl.fi

Population is ageing globally

19/05/2009 Ageing population, care services and needs for ambient technology / Päivi Topo 2

Source: World Population Ageing: 1950-2050. UN.

19/05/2009 Ageing population, care services and needs for ambient technology / Päivi Topo 3

Source: World Population Ageing: 1950-2050. UN.

Significant differences among people in old age

• Go GoPeople no or minor chronic health problems

• Slow Go• People with problems in health and/or

functioning that cause some challenges for daily life

• No Go• People with severe problems in health and functioning, dependence on others in daily life

Go Go and ambient technology• Prevention is the main issue:

Nutrition & diet & weight controlBlood pressureSports & daily physical activitySleepSocial activities Cognitive activities

• Support in their social activities and care responsibilities

• Changes already in fucntioning because of normal ageing need to be taken into account in user requirements

Slow Go and ambient technology

• self-care of acute & chronic disease (medication, blood pressure, blood sugar etc.)

• "self-rehabilitation" (physical, cognitive, psychological exercises & feed back)

• social engangement

• Many "slow go people" also care for their frail spouses or other relatives

• Time to learn to use technology; motivation to do it depends on how necessary it is

No Go and ambient technology

• self-care of acute & severe chronic disease (medication, blood pressure, blood sugar etc.)

• "self-rehabilitation" (physical, cognitive, psychological exercices & feed back)

• social engangement

• due dependence on help from the others communication & information delivery very important: easier to organise within family, more complex if health & social care services needed

• cognitive problems common: difficulties in learning > easy to use is basic requirement

People with dementia as an example of Slow Go & No Go

• 30 million people with dementia worldwide: by 2050, over 100 million.

• Much of the increase will be in developing countries.

• More than 60% of people with dementia live in developing countries, by 2040 71%.

• The fastest growth in the elderly population is taking place in China, India, and south Asian and western Pacific.

• In western countries people with dementia use the vast majority of services for the ageing population: their care is far more expensive than cancer treatment

19/05/2009 Ageing population, care services and needs for ambient technology / Päivi Topo 8

Source: Alzheimer´s Disease International

Prevalence of dementing illnesses in Finland by age

Age group Prevalence (%)

65-69 2,3

70-74 4,2

75-79 8,6

80-84 13,0

85-89 25,3

90+ 33,5

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Can technology help?

• Dementia caused by Alzheimers disease and other similar disease weakens cognitive abilities widely

• Gradually the person has problems in short term memory, in orientation, perception, counting etc.

• Causes severe difficulties in daily life & need for 24 hour care

• Technology has been successfully used to help family carers, social & health care personell

• Topo P. Technology studies to meet the needs of people with dementia and their caregivers: a literature review. Journal of Applied Gerontology 2009.

Can technology help?• Little is known about potential to directly support the person

with dementia to be more indepent or to have better quality of life

• Existing studies show promising results

• Good solutions needed for help in maintaining abilities & cognition, to help in orientation, to improve safety at home and in compensating skills that have been lost or are in danger to be lost

• This kind of approach can help in decreasing needs of care & cutting costs of care BUT it requires that personal help is available when needed

• Topo P. Technology studies to meet the needs of people with dementia and their caregivers: a literature review. Journal of Applied Gerontology 2009.

• Topo P. & Östlund B. (eds): Dementia, design and technology - Time to get involved. IOS Press, 2009 (available at: www.thl.fi/bookshop)

Unnecessary disability in ageing societies

• Barrier free design & accessibility are essential

• Technology now used to compensate problems caused by non-accessibile design of built environments

• Service needs & needs for assistance are often caused by non-accessible environment:

UNNECESSARY DISABILITY

• Ambient technology has huge potential in improving actual environments of old people towards optimal environment

Thank you!