Effects of an assisted living platform amongst frail older adults and their caregivers: 6 months vs. 9 months follow-up across a pilot field study

Ambient Assistive Living (AAL) technologies provide promising solutions to support aging-in-place but still lack ecological validation. Frail older Individuals (FIs) are at high risk of losing their autonomy but are also acknowledged to be an optimal target population for dependency prevention based on environmental supports. In this context, a recent study revealed some promising short-term benefits of an AAL platform in supporting FIs’ everyday functioning and releasing caregiver burden. Research aim: Complementarily to this first study, we aimed to address near and far effects of an AAL platform on FIs’ everyday functioning and caregiver burden. Method: HomeAssist is an AAL platform providing environmental support thanks to services including activity verification, safety alerts, reminders, communication and leisure activities. HomeAssist efficacy has been evaluated in a field study including a nine-month deployment in the home of sixteen cognitively healthy (MMSE > 25) FIs living alone. Several efficacy measures were taken and compared to a control group (n=16), matched by age, gender, cognitive functioning and frailty condition. These measures included FIs’ autonomy (self-reported and reported by a caregiver) and caregiver burden (for supporting FIs’ autonomy and professional burnout) and were assessed at baseline, six, and nine months later. Results: Our results indicated that: (1) FIs’ autonomy reported by caregivers is improved over time for the equipped group, with a greater extent after 9 months; (2) FIs’ self-perception of everyday functioning remained constant after 9 months for the equipped group, whereas it slightly decreased for the control group; and (3) caregivers reported less burden across time in the equipped group compared to control group; while HomeAssist intervention did not significantly impact professional burden. Conclusion: Taken together, this suggests that near effects of HomeAssist are not only due to novelty, but rather benefits from HomeAssist intervention.