This chapter provides a brief overview of the demographic evolution and aging process, introducing a collaborative framework to assist senior citizens. The importance of supporting the age-related care needs, and the potential technologies for aging support are highlighted. A conceptual model for an elderly care ecosystem (ECE) and methods for care service personalization and evolution based on a collaborative environment are presented. To facilitate the consideration of human factors in the early design stage of ECE, a care need goals taxonomy and human-centered design principles are introduced. Customer, service, and service provider template profiles to design the elderly care ecosystem are proposed. Experimental results and feedback from lead users are presented and discussed. The goal of the ECE framework is to provide assistance in service recommendation (and adaptation) for the elderly care domain taking into account human factors.
TopIntroduction
Current demographic trends show that the percentage of the elderly population is increasing significantly (Fengler, 2014; Gartner, 2018; Kearney, 2013). In continents, such as Europe, the current proportion of elderly is around 24% of the population, corresponding approximately to 175 million people, while young people are around 117 million (16%). In 2050, although Europe´s population tends to decrease, the number of seniors is expected to reach 27.2% of the population (Bureau, 2018). Such trends show that the population are living longer, staying healthy for more time, and consequently working for more years (Kearney (2013), (Bureau, 2018) and (WorldHealthOrganization, 2018). On the other hand, the number of births has declined worldwide in the past 20 years. The number of born alive babies reached 90 million in 1989. In 2010 only 73 million babies were born, and the trajectory has been moving steadily downward.
Age-related changes affecting perceptual capabilities (such as vision or hearing) and motor skills are especially problematic for older adults. Biological factors like physiological and cognitive declination are often strong causes for the loss of autonomy, and for physical limitations. In extreme cases, regular daily activities such as cooking, performing personal hygiene, housework’s, etc., are often affected (Thakur et al., 2013).
The traditional way to deal with this problem requires intense care from family. Relatives need to actively participate in the aging process and support elderly. In this case, many people live with their family when they begin to lose capabilities. Those who remain living by themselves either care for themselves alone or require caregivers to assist them on daily activities. Alternatively, the elderly may stay in a nursing home, a solution that they typically hate. All these changes, can directly affect the senior´s life style (Thakur et al., 2013). The experience of aging can make people more demanding and grumpier, as they may not like this new lifestyle, or find that they are considered a burden to the family, suffering from depression and sadness moments. In this context, aging is a process that requires dedication of time (attentive care from family) and considerable financial resources.
When the objective is to keep seniors healthy and enjoying a high quality of life, specific care needs appear. Each individual elderly person may require focused services (e.g., care and assistance) according to his/her life context. In fact, characterizing a person as elderly involves more than age as a determinant factor. Singular elements of the aging process, such as life settings, individual capacities, and abilities, contribute to characterize an elderly person. As a result, a specific care service might be enough for an individual and very futile for another. This brings up the necessity of personalized and composite services in this sector.
The notion of personalized service typically involves a composition of various basic services, possibly offered by different providers, which together fit the needs of each individual (Baldissera et al., 2017b; Evenson & Dubberly, 2010; Hong et al., 2009; Lee, 2007). Therefore, customizing a (composite) service includes an understanding amongst customer and suppliers (and all other involved stakeholders) through which they share data to allow an adequate adaptation of the service offer (Baldissera et al., 2017a; Kwortnik Jr et al., 2009; Manoharan et al., 2015).
The idea of a collaborative business environment for elderly care can help in the integration of various services from different service providers (Afsarmanesh et al., 2012; Baldissera & Camarinha-Matos, 2016a; Camarinha-Matos et al., 2015). Likewise, finding the set of services and corresponding service providers that best cover the senior’s lifestyle, needs, and desires is a challenge.
Although related approaches can be found in the literature, there is a lack of a comprehensive framework that manages the process of service composition and evolution for elderly care in a collaborative environment. Also, keeping the service always adapted to the continuous changes in lifestyle is a factor that adds more difficulty in overcoming this challenge (personalization and evolution of the service).