Supporting Safe Walking for People with Dementia
Award Number
II-3A-0809-10020Programme
Invention for InnovationStatus / Stage
CompletedDates
2 May 2010 -1 May 2011
Duration (calculated)
00 years 11 monthsFunder(s)
NIHRFunding Amount
£64,003.00Funder/Grant study page
NIHRContracted Centre
Halliday James LimitedPrincipal Investigator
Dr Luis Enrique AguadoWHO Catergories
Development of novel therapiesRisk reduction intervention
Disease Type
Dementia (Unspecified)CPEC Review Info
| Reference ID | 59 |
|---|---|
| Researcher | Reside Team |
| Published | 12/06/2023 |
Data
| Award Number | II-3A-0809-10020 |
|---|---|
| Status / Stage | Completed |
| Start Date | 20100502 |
| End Date | 20110501 |
| Duration (calculated) | 00 years 11 months |
| Funder/Grant study page | NIHR |
| Contracted Centre | Halliday James Limited |
| Funding Amount | £64,003.00 |
Abstract
One of the most worrying features of dementia is the process which until recently was called wandering . The person with dementia will leave their home, sometimes at night and sometimes inappropriately dressed. If it happens too often then there will be considerable pressure put on the family to place the person in a more secure care establishment. More recently it has been recognised that the process of walking like this satisfies a need that the person has and to restrict it can be detrimental. The concept of safe walking has emerged which allows the person to walk as they wish, in appropriate circumstances, yet remain safe. This has benefits in improving general health and in particular in reducing the risk of the person falling, which is a major cause of hospitalisation and complications. In recent years there has been a lot of interest in using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology which is used in satellite navigation systems to help locate the person if they become lost. They are given what is essentially a small mobile phone with GPS built in. This will monitor the person’s position and display their position on a map on the Internet. It can also raise an alarm if the person leaves a safe area or if they press a panic button on the device. Carers can be notified of an alarm in a number of ways, often by text message. Current devices are designed for use in a number of different areas besides dementia and consequently can be more complex than is necessary for people with dementia (PWD). The complexity can also cause confusion if there are several buttons on the device or lights flashing. Another problem is that the batteries need to be charged every day or so by the carer and they also have to make sure that the person carries it with them. If the person sometimes leaves the house at night it is unlikely they will have it on them and so the system is useless. With permanent carers of family this can be less of a problem but where care is provided by agencies and the carers change frequently the failure rate is much higher. What we are proposing to do is to develop a location device that is much smaller and lighter than current devices and which has a much longer battery life. This will mean that the user will be able to wear it nearly all the time and that the day to day care staff need not be involved in supporting it. It will be very simple and the user will not need to do anything. We are able to do this because one of the partners in the project have already developed a very small and low power device which is used to track marine mammals such as seals. Also new chips have just been introduced which will reduce the power consumption and size even further. We also understand how the device will be used in practice as another partner already offers an emergency location service using conventional devices. This project is a feasibility study to make sure that our ideas will work in practice before larger amounts of money are spent to actually develop a commercial product. The project is divided into 8 work packages: WP0 is the overall project management which makes sure that the project runs to time and that all the objectives are met. WP1 runs throughout the project and is designed to ensure that when the device is produced it will be commercially viable. WP2 gathers information from three main stakeholder groups, people with dementia, professionals and carers to investigate the ethical issues, which are very important in a project like this, acceptability of different designs of device in terms of form, weight and battery life. WP3 produces a technical document which will make sure that the device will be able to communicate with the existing web based location service. WP4 is a major part of the technical work which will look at how the existing low power GPS technology can be made even smaller and more efficient.
Plain English Summary
One of the most worrying features of dementia is the process which until recently was called wandering . The person with dementia will leave their home, sometimes at night and sometimes inappropriately dressed. If it happens too often then there will be considerable pressure put on the family to place the person in a more secure care establishment. More recently it has been recognised that the process of walking like this satisfies a need that the person has and to restrict it can be detrimental. The concept of safe walking has emerged which allows the person to walk as they wish, in appropriate circumstances, yet remain safe. This has benefits in improving general health and in particular in reducing the risk of the person falling, which is a major cause of hospitalisation and complications. In recent years there has been a lot of interest in using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology which is used in satellite navigation systems to help locate the person if they become lost. They are given what is essentially a small mobile phone with GPS built in. This will monitor the person’s position and display their position on a map on the Internet. It can also raise an alarm if the person leaves a safe area or if they press a panic button on the device. Carers can be notified of an alarm in a number of ways, often by text message. Current devices are designed for use in a number of different areas besides dementia and consequently can be more complex than is necessary for people with dementia (PWD). The complexity can also cause confusion if there are several buttons on the device or lights flashing. Another problem is that the batteries need to be charged every day or so by the carer and they also have to make sure that the person carries it with them. If the person sometimes leaves the house at night it is unlikely they will have it on them and so the system is useless. With permanent carers of family this can be less of a problem but where care is provided by agencies and the carers change frequently the failure rate is much higher. What we are proposing to do is to develop a location device that is much smaller and lighter than current devices and which has a much longer battery life. This will mean that the user will be able to wear it nearly all the time and that the day to day care staff need not be involved in supporting it. It will be very simple and the user will not need to do anything. We are able to do this because one of the partners in the project have already developed a very small and low power device which is used to track marine mammals such as seals. Also new chips have just been introduced which will reduce the power consumption and size even further. We also understand how the device will be used in practice as another partner already offers an emergency location service using conventional devices. This project is a feasibility study to make sure that our ideas will work in practice before larger amounts of money are spent to actually develop a commercial product. The project is divided into 8 work packages: WP0 is the overall project management which makes sure that the project runs to time and that all the objectives are met. WP1 runs throughout the project and is designed to ensure that when the device is produced it will be commercially viable. WP2 gathers information from three main stakeholder groups, people with dementia, professionals and carers to investigate the ethical issues, which are very important in a project like this, acceptability of different designs of device in terms of form, weight and battery life. WP3 produces a technical document which will make sure that the device will be able to communicate with the existing web based location service. WP4 is a major part of the technical work which will look at how the existing low power GPS technology can be made even smaller and more efficient, how mobile phone technology can be integrated.