DEsign for healthy ageing: a smart system to decrease LONELINESS for older people (DELONELINESS)
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Engineering
Abstract
Loneliness is a growing health concern in a rapidly ageing society. As Age UK noted in 2018, 1.4 million older people class themselves as often lonely, and it is estimated this will rise to 2 million people over the aged of 50 by 2025. Loneliness, typically defined as a "discrepancy between one's desired and achieved levels of social relations" is generally experienced by over one third of older people. The subjective feeling of loneliness has been associated with a range of negative outcomes including increased prevalence of physical and mental illness, all-cause mortality, and risk of self-harm. Whilst issues of loneliness may be overlooked by health and social service professionals, the COVID-19 pandemic could have accelerated these issues due to lockdown. Reduced access to social support networks, community events and family highlight the need to detect and support those who are lonely at home. It is of paramount importance to refine methods of identifying loneliness in those who are isolated to allow timely and effective intervention. This proposal aims to develop a smart monitoring and communication system with multifunctional electronics built into textiles used as wearables and home furniture to measure loneliness levels in older people.
The timely and accurate identification of loneliness of older people will enable informed care choices at home. The main objective of this research is to determine different levels of loneliness via bespoke multi-sensing monitoring. This could be used to identify those at risk of loneliness and highlight priorities for targeted intervention. Prompt actions to identify and help lonely older people would help to decrease the risk of developing serious healthcare issues and help support them to live independently.
DELONELINESS is an interdisciplinary project bringing academic experts from Social Gerontology, Psychology, Design, Smart Composite Material, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and industrial partners as well as policy makers to: (i) to understand the conditions of being lonely and (ii) to develop a smart system to measure and monitor loneliness. The diverse team represents individuals from a range of ethnicities, gender identifications and career stages.
The timely and accurate identification of loneliness of older people will enable informed care choices at home. The main objective of this research is to determine different levels of loneliness via bespoke multi-sensing monitoring. This could be used to identify those at risk of loneliness and highlight priorities for targeted intervention. Prompt actions to identify and help lonely older people would help to decrease the risk of developing serious healthcare issues and help support them to live independently.
DELONELINESS is an interdisciplinary project bringing academic experts from Social Gerontology, Psychology, Design, Smart Composite Material, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and industrial partners as well as policy makers to: (i) to understand the conditions of being lonely and (ii) to develop a smart system to measure and monitor loneliness. The diverse team represents individuals from a range of ethnicities, gender identifications and career stages.
Publications
Rees J
(2023)
Wearables, sensors and the future of technology to detect and infer loneliness in older adults
in Gerontechnology
Jessica Rees
(2023)
Psychological experiences of loneliness in later life.
Title | Collage Activity for Co-Design |
Description | Pre-printed patterns and outlines of the home environment and furniture were created as foundation for collaborative collages of people's home environment. Participants could indicate with pre-printed descriptors and colours, their preferred positioning of the 'Deloneliness' system in their home environment. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | This artefact will allow to better understand the end-user requirements and develop a portfolio of design principles and specifications to become useful to and usable for older adults. It helps older participants to visualize and communicate their envisioning of the system design. The functioning of this technique was already pilot tested and is in the process of refinement for the first workshop with older participants. |
Title | Illustration of the Deloneliness System for Older People |
Description | To communicate the system to the public and advertise the later exhibition of our project, an illustration has been developed. The illustration presents the functioning of the system that is developed as part of the research. At the center of the illustration we find a representation of an older lonely person. The system is consists of a smart textile, its embeddedness in furniture and wearables at home, and the AI interpretation thereof for receiving personalised support and health care. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | The illustration is to be published in preparation for the exhibition of our project at the London design biennale 2023. Since no picture of our exhibits or a prototype exists at this stage, an drawing was necessary. An appealing visualization will help raise further interest in our exhibition by visitors and it will also help communicate the new research development that takes place. It is to be used for initial advertisement in the upcoming months. |
Description | Research Seed Funding |
Amount | £800 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AC10818 |
Organisation | King's College London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2023 |
End | 07/2023 |
Description | Housing Learning and Improvement Network |
Organisation | Housing Learning and Improvement Network |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Bi-weekly meetings organised with project partners, Housing Learning Improvement Network, to update on the project and organise support for recruitment. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Housing LIN sent out a specific newsletter to members of network advertising opportunity for interview participants |
Impact | We have recruited 10 participants directly through Housing LIN and made contacts with independent living providers across the UK. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | PPIE feedback from READ group |
Organisation | South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Foundation Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | In October 2023, the Race, Ethnicity And Diversity Group (READ) at King's College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust was consulted on the DELONELINESS project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Four experts by experience provided feedback on recruitment methods for the qualitative interview study. |
Impact | Refinement of study poster to be more inclusive of experiences of loneliness. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Engagement focused blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Engagement focused blog published by the Campaign to End Loneliness, exploring how technology can be used to measure loneliness, introduce the DELONELINESS project, and support recruitment for interview study. The blog was shared on Twitter by the Housing LIN who have over 4,000 followers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/how-can-we-measure-loneliness-using-technology/ |