Personas and Scenarios Based on Functioning and Health Conditions

Background

AAL is being considered one of the important concerns for applied engineering (Kleinberger, Becker, Ras, Holzinger & Müller, 2007) where safety, contextualization, transparency, accessibility, usability and artificial intelligence play a major role. The general goal of AAL solutions is to apply the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) concepts and technologies to enable older adults, or other people with specific demands, to live longer in their natural environment. In technological terms, the AAL comprises a heterogeneous field of applications ranging from quite simple devices such as intelligent medication dispensers, bed sensors or falls detectors (Lombardi, Ferri, Rescio, Grassi & Malcovati, 2009) to complex systems such as the combine use of different technologies to predict user's affective and cognitive states (Kapoor, 2010; Leon, Clarke, Callaghan & Doctor, 2010).

The AAL concerns and developments are in line with the WHO active ageing framework (WHO, 2002). To overcome the pressures resulting from the demographic ageing, WHO argues that governments, international organizations and civil society should promote active ageing policies and programmes. Active ageing depends on a variety of influences or determinants that surround individuals, families and nations related with personal characteristics, culture and gender, but also with societal characteristics and infra-structures (e.g. physical environments, support services or social and economic contexts).