Improving personalized elderly care - an approach using cognitive agents to better assist elderly people

Abstract

The aging of the population at a global level is an increasingly constant presence in daily life, and the consequences arising from this problem are becoming more and more impactful for the proper functioning and structuring of society. In this context, we speak of implications regarding economic growth, lifestyles (including retirement), family relationships, government resources available to the elderly, and, inevitably, the prevalence of chronic diseases. In the face of this reality, there arises a need for the development and promotion of effective strategies in the monitoring, prevention, and stimulation of active and healthy aging in the population. This ensures that elderly people continue to have a relevant role in society rather than being subjected to isolation and easy deterioration of their physical, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities. It makes sense to take advantage of all the technological developments that have occurred in recent years, particularly in mobile devices, artificial intelligence, and monitoring systems, to create solutions capable of providing daily support. Such solutions can collect health data and indicators and provide personalized actions that motivate adopting better health habits and means to achieve active and healthy aging. The challenge, therefore, is to encourage this population to merge their daily lives with the interest and willingness to use applications and systems that provide this personalized support. Some of the approaches recently explored in the literature with promising results to meet this goal are based on the use of gamification techniques and incentives to fulfill health challenges (as if the person were playing a game) and the use of personalized interactions with objects (whether physical, like robots, or virtual, like avatars) capable of providing more personal feedback, thus creating a closer connection between both the user and the system. The work presented here combines these ideas and results in an intelligent approach to promoting the well-being of the elderly population through a personalized healthcare system. This system incorporates various gamification techniques to encourage better habits and behaviors. It uses a cognitive Virtual Assistant capable of understanding the user's needs and interests to provide personalized feedback and interaction to assist and motivate in fulfilling the identified challenges and objectives. The proposed approach was validated through a study involving 12 elderly users, and significant results were achieved regarding usability, acceptance, and health effects. Specifically, the results support the importance and positive impact of combining gamification techniques and interaction with a cognitive Virtual Assistant that translates the user's health progress. Significant improvements in health outcomes were obtained after the intervention. Additionally, the usability results obtained through completing a usability questionnaire confirmed good adherence to the presented approach. These results thus validate the research hypothesis studied in the development of this dissertation.