Improving wellbeing of community-dwelling people with mild cognitive impairment: the SENIOR (SystEm of Nudge theory based ICT applications for OldeR citizens) project

Abstract

Population aging with longer life expectancy represents one of the most relevant challenges of the next future, also because of a significant proportion of older adult people may present with dementia. Motivating senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment to maintain their independence and functional abilities, improve health status and quality of life as well as social interactions, constitutes the main target of preventive medicine. According to a nudge theoretical approach, the SENIOR (SystEm of Nudge theory based ICT applications for OldeR citizens) project– developed thanks to the collaboration among Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Bicocca University and IRCCS Auxiologico Institute in Milan (Italy) – has been designed to adopt an advanced information and communication technology coaching system able to collect and integrate physiological, psychological and behavioral data, with the final aim of interacting with community-dwelling elderly people suffering from mild cognitive impairment and of providing them personalized feedback on lifestyle management. The SENIOR project proposes to use a smart-watch app for alerting family doctors, sharing information with family members in specific cases and monitoring patients at higher risk in hospital Units, in order to ameliorate health of senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment.

Keywords

• community; older adult people; information and communication technology; mild cognitive impairment; nudge theory; smart watches