Augmenting Cognitive Stimulation Activities in a Nursing Home through Pervasive Computing

Cognitive stimulation (CS) is a non-pharmacological intervention to treat individuals with mild to moderate dementia. CS aims to improve and maintain overall cognitive functions through activities in sessions of active stimulation. Results of an empirical study and an observational study of CS sessions show that (1) the interaction mechanisms to perform assisted CS activities can leverage the benefits for patient participants, and that (2) the support for assisted interactions in a CS session can increase the quality of the provided care and ease the workload of caregiver participants. For this reason, we present the Aware-Puzzle, a tangible vision-based context-aware system for the assessment of progress and correctness of CS activities. On the one hand, the tangible interface allows for alternative interaction means which are more suited to the abilities and capabilities of elders. On the other hand, the context-aware features allow for caregivers to become aware of explicit requests for help or, of implicit needs of patients, and thus proactively provide to them support, encouragement or feedback, as needed. Finally, we present an implementation of the Aware-Puzzle as an agent-based system envisioning its use as a dedicated environment in the nursing home.