Rehabilitation aims at enabling individuals to reach and maintain an optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychological, and social functional level (WHO; http://www.who.int/topics/rehabilitation/en/).
Published in Chapter:
New Telerehabilitation Services for the Elderly
António Teixeira (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Carlos Pereira (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Miguel Oliveira e Silva (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Joaquim Alvarelhão (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Anabela G. Silva (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Margarida Cerqueira (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Ana Isabel Martins (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Osvaldo Pacheco (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Nuno Almeida (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Catarina Oliveira (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Rui Costa (GOVCOPP, University of Aveiro, Portugal), António Neves (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Alexandra Queirós (University of Aveiro, Portugal), and Nelson Rocha (University of Aveiro, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2013
|Pages: 24
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3990-4.ch006
Abstract
The world’s population is getting older with the percentage of people over 60 increasing more rapidly than any other age group. Telerehabilitation may help minimise the pressure this puts on the traditional healthcare system, but recent studies showed ease of use, usability, and accessibility as unsolved problems, especially for older people who may have little experience or confidence in using technology. Current migration towards multimodal interaction has benefits for seniors, allowing hearing and vision problems to be addressed by exploring redundancy and complementarity of modalities. This chapter presents and contextualizes work in progress in a new telerehabilitation service targeting the combined needs of the elderly to have professionally monitored exercises without leaving their homes with their need regarding interaction, directly related to age-related effects on, for example, vision, hearing, and cognitive capabilities. After a brief general overview of the service, additional information on its two supporting applications are presented, including information on user interfaces. First results from a preliminary evaluation are also included.