Perceptions of the elderly on the use of wireless sensor networks for health monitoring

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions and thoughts of the elderly community on current sensor network designs for health monitoring. The majority of research to date has focused on development of the wireless sensor network technology for health care applications; this study instead focuses on the perceptions of one group of users of such technology – the elderly. As user acceptance is a key issue in system deployment, issues and ideas arising from current sensor network designs are put to the elderly, aiming to involve them in the design process. By conducting focus group sessions with elderly participants and interviews with a health care professional, this study sought views on the nature of monitoring preferred by elderly people, and their preferred modes of interaction with such a system. Some interesting and surprising findings from these focus groups include a general preference for an embedded sensor implementation versus a wearable or ambient implementation, the expressed need of the elderly to have some ability to control / interact with the sensors and the general positive level of support for the idea of sensor-based health monitoring. Author