ISISEMD: Intelligent system for independent living and self-care of seniors with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia

According to the 2009 World Alzheimer Report, the number of people living with Alzheimer's and dementia is predicted to double almost every 20 years, and people will experience their first symptoms of dementia at an earlier age. In Europe the number of people with dementia is conservatively anticipated to increase by 40% over the next 20 years mainly due to the increase in the ageing population. As a consequence, social care providers in Europe will face major challenges over the next couple of decades due to the increased care demand for people suffering from dementia. This will have a double negative impact as it will not only increase the burden of care but also reduce the quality of life of informal carers helping those with pre- and mild dementia, living at home. Current traditional care provides limited services for these groups, leaving their needs unmet to a great extent. Information and communication technology (ICT) offers a number of promising opportunities to help patients with pre- and mild dementia live autonomously and safely in their own homes, and to support informal carers in coping with the care burden. ISISEMD is a European project aiming at improving the quality of life of elderly people with pre- and mild dementia living in their own homes, and also for their caregivers by offering innovative intelligent custom services. The services aim to support the needs of the elderly from this target group for: a) living safely at home; b) self-care by supporting their basic daily activities; c) daily interaction with relatives, friends and caregivers, giving them the feeling of safety and preventing their social isolation. The services will be validated via a controlled study across four European countries in real-life situations for one year. To address scalability, the pilot services will contain three complementary service bundles (basic services, intermediate and high level) that allow for escalation of the service provided to the end-users, based on their needs. The service bundles provided will be easily managed, personalised, transparent and comprehensive. This paper elaborates on the ISISEMD approach for an innovative care model, including technical aspects of the services, the technologies used and the system architecture. It also describes plans for evaluation from a human factor perspective, and briefly discusses business opportunities. © The Journal on Information Technology in Healthcare.