The Future of Human Healthspan Demography, Evolution, Medicine, and Bioengineering: Task Group Summaries (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Develop Technological Interventions to Overcome Barriers to Independence and Community Participation
Develop Technological Interventions to Overcome Barriers to Independence and Community Participation
Pages 57-72
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From page 57... ...
Initial Challenges to Consider • Identify technological interventions needed for people to continue to live active lifestyles and to support healthy aging with a disability. • What are the barriers (social, cultural, socioeconomic status, policy, clinical)
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From page 58... ...
• Develop technological innovations that promote independence, community participation, and healthful living. Initial References Chavez, E., M
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Once a person is committed to nursing care, health and mental aptitude tend to rapidly decay. Staying out of that system and aging in place seems to be the key to living longer, healthier lives, explain senescence experts who study the mechanics of advanced-age living.
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, for chronic disease amelioration, to alleviate social isolation, to lessen the burdens of caregivers and family, and to increase personalization of care. Any technology of the future should do all of the above in a way that doesn't simply replace human care with mechanized care; rather, it should enhance the ability of a few humans to care for many while maintaining the strong social bonds that keep seniors healthy and mentally alert.
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. The group chose to focus on disruptive technologies because they offer the greatest opportunity for innovation as well as more complex responsibilities as the conceptual level for creating something that's a genuinely beneficial idea (e.g., health benefits)
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J Watson Research Center • Maja Matari´, University of Southern California c • Hunter Peckham, Case Western Reserve University • Jonathan Wanagat, University of Washington • Mike Weinrich, National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research • Noah Barron, University of Southern California TASK GROUP SUMMARY -- Group A Summary written by Noah Barron, Graduate Journalism Student, University of Southern California One possible disruptive tech solution for the problems of isolation and lack of independence for seniors aging at home would be assistive robotics.
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From page 63... ...
Over in Switzerland, medical robotics engineers are developing Lokomat, a sort of mechanized lower-body robot suit that helps stroke and semiparalyzed patients relearn to walk by putting their legs and torso through the motions of a natural stride. Again, this technology exists primarily to replace the hard physical labor that rehab therapists do, lifting and manipulating patients' bodies.
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In the words of Cliff Dasco, director of the Abramson Center for the Future of Health, Methodist Hospital Houston, "It's the R2D2 effect -- everyone likes him more than C3PO." (In case you slept through Star Wars, R2 is the lovable garbage-can droid and C3PO is the annoying humanoid one.) One theory that was advanced in the 1970s is that there is a point where humanoid robots stop seeming like cute automata imitating people and start seeming like people with something hideously wrong with them.
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. TASK GROUP MEMBERS -- Group B • Lazelle Benefield, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center • Leon Esterowitz, National Science Foundation • Stuart Harshbarger, Johns Hopkins University • James Kahan, RAND Corporation • Russell E
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Aging is an especially ripe challenge for a multidisciplinary approach, since it cuts across many fields and affects everyone. Our group was charged with putting our collective minds and disparate backgrounds to a topic that let us dream far and dream big: How could we use technology to overcome barriers to independence for the aging?
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" asked Margaret Perkinson, a medical anthropologist and associate professor of occupational science and occupational therapy at St. Louis University.
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"A key point is making the products friendly for end users," said Lazelle Benefield, a professor of gerontological nursing at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. We kept Benefield's words in mind as we divided the technologies into three horizons -- currently available, in development, or still a dream.
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This was the realm of artificial intelligence brain implants to offset cognitive decline, artificial retinas, regenerated limbs and organs, robotic caretakers, and behavior-changing technology. In the last example the technology could be used with young people also, to eliminate addictions, reduce obesity, and increase exercise so they grow into healthy old age.
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. An important step that is sometimes neglected in the real world is user feedback that would improve the product so that it better meets consumer needs.
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to improve their health and avoid diseases. Experts would share knowledge on currently available technology, priorities for future developments, and funding sources.
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2006. Japanese technology policy for aged care.
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