BACKGROUND Previous studies have found that social activities are beneficial for the reduction of cognitive decline (CD) in the elderly. However, knowledge regarding the types of social activities that reduce CD in later life is limited. The aim of this study is to examine which type of social activities reduce CD 4 years later among young-old (Y-O) and old-old (O-O) adults. METHODS We conduc...

The Senior Companion (SC) is a fully implemented Windows application intended for intermittent use by one user only (a senior citizen) over potentially many years. The thinking behind the SC is to make a device that will give its owner comfort, company, entertainment, and some practical functions. The SC will typically be installed at home, either as an application on a personal computer, or on...

Ambient assisted living is a new interdisciplinary field aiming at supporting senior citizens in their home by means of embedded technologies. This domain offer an interesting challenge for providing dependability and security in a privacy-respecting way: in order to provide services in an emergency we cannot monitor on a second-by-second base a senior citizen. Beside being immoral, it would be...

Abstract Currently, food services in Swiss senior citizen homes heavily depend on the presence and working hours of human resources. For most residents, there is currently no possibility to eat according their individual needs or preferences. However, trends like flexible catering, reduction importance lunch as main meal day “snackification” will influence service delivery future. At same time,...

OBJECTIVE Establishing the factors associated with using healthcare services for the aged in Cartagena, Colombia. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. A 656 sample-size was estimated for a population of 66,795 senior citizens; stratified sampling was used. A questionnaire entitled "Using healthcare services" (Uso de los servicios de salud) was used; descriptive statistics and logistical ...

In most developed countries the ageing population is placing a severe strain on health systems and national budgets. In meeting this challenge, e-Health initiatives seek medically-focused ICT solutions for improved health services that enable senior citizens to remain living at home longer. A literature review and interviews with health-care providers reveal that significant factors affecting t...