Dementia is a leading cause of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. To address the challenges faced by people with dementia, vision-based technologies have been proposed to provide context-aware assistance. These technologies typically rely on cameras to understand actions and tailor assistance accordingly. However, privacy concerns hinder their adoption, particularly in privacy-sensitive contexts. This study proposes the use of 4D point clouds as a privacy-preserving modality for assistive systems. By relying only on 3D data and excluding RGB information, we aim to enable personalised assistance while mitigating privacy risks.

To assess the feasibility of this approach, we collect a real-world dataset with the help of 16 people with dementia and evaluate the state-of-the-art P4Transformer model on this dataset. Our results show promising performance, demonstrating the viability of point clouds as a practical alternative for privacy-sensitive action recognition in real-world settings. However, the model does not reach the performance achieved on benchmark datasets, highlighting the importance of adapting models to deal with the complexity of real-world data.

By addressing privacy challenges and validating the model with real-world datasets, this research contributes to the advancement of privacy-aware assistive systems for people with dementia, towards more personalised and effective dementia care.

In the context of an increasing demand for home adaptation in response to the needs of the elderly and caregivers, this paper introduces a novel design support system, merging Virtual Reality (VR) and semantic technologies to facilitate the reconfiguration of bedrooms, integrating Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions.

The methodology combines a knowledge representation of user health conditions, physical environments, and device characteristics with a virtual simulation for pre-implementation evaluation.

The system leverages domain ontologies to provide computational representations of the space and its features; the semantic knowledge base is engineered referencing building (IFC) and healthcare standards (ICF, ICD), alongside ontologies for devices and assistive technologies. Through a Java-based middleware, a VR simulation of the environment (developed with Unity 3D) can be interacted and customised by designers. The system, exploiting semantic reasoning, supports the designers in the selection of the best options, including assistive technologies, spatial re-organization, and indoor comfort metrics. The reconfigured bedroom models can be exported to any design software via IFC-BIM data exchange.

Initial implementations demonstrate the system's efficacy in customising spaces for two user profiles (personas) with chronic conditions, proposing a comprehensive BIM-based tool for spatial and assistive technology integration in home spaces for enhanced elderly quality of life.

Existing research and physical activity guidelines highlight the benefits of outdoor physical activities for ageing populations. There is potential for technology to facilitate outdoor activity through Physical Web infrastructure. We proposed that embedding Physical Web applications that are engaging and interactive in public open spaces as part of interactive wellness parks can encourage older adults to participate in physical activities outdoors and motivate rehabilitation. We have created an initial design prototype based on design requirements generated from a qualitative field study with 24 older adults to explore their perceptions, experiences, and routines of outdoor physical activities. In this paper, we present the initial prototype and findings from a co-design session with 12 older adults, eliciting their feedback on the design and their ideas for future design iterations.

Health Data Representation (HDR) poses significant accessibility problems for people with disabilities and older adults, particularly those with visual, hearing, speech, motor and cognitive impairments, as well as literacy problems. While methodologies like heuristic evaluation and visualisation literacy are valuable, they have limitations in addressing the varied and nuanced range of data representations and perceptual matching issues. This paper presents a collaborative expert evaluation methodology that strategically bridges the gap between domain experts and non-experts. By scoping out representative HDRs, our approach significantly expands the research space for accessibility issues within the designated scope, narrowing critical gaps in existing independent guidelines. Using this methodology, we carefully examined common conventional HDRs, collaborating with experts to identify 179 potential issues specific to older adults. Categorisation strategies highlighted key issues within this broad problem space, showing that existing guidelines fail to effectively address all of the predominant categories. Our paper presents a set of emerging impairment-agnostic principles in response, embedding crucial steps towards mitigating these problems. Our study not only identifies challenges but also provides a model for iterative evaluation and adaptation of critical HDR. Beyond informing more accessible system design, it also unlocks innovative opportunities for future HDRs.

Studies done in different countries have found that beginning computer science students think older people are less likely to use computers. To understand the impact this may have on the designs conceived, some studies investigated the design aspects suggested for younger and older, women and men.

We asked the same cohort the same questions about perceived computer literacy and design aspects at the beginning and end of their bachelor's degree to see if these views persist. Three runs of the questionnaire were done, each with more than 95 participants: a) first year students, b) shortly before or after graduation and c) students starting after the COVID-19 lock-downs (to check this was not a significant factor).

Mixed methods were used to analyse the differences between the beginning and end of their studies. We analyzed if the stage in studies was a factor in their perceptions of computer use. We compared the design aspects at each stage, to see if more aspects of user experience were included for all people. Since many older people have limitations, we also evaluated whether the aspects mentioned covered the accessibility recommendations for older.

Although biases towards older people remain, graduates perceive less difference in the likelihood of regular use by young and old. Regarding design, aspects related to usability are mentioned more often for all ages. For older, less focus is put on large fonts and other aspects of accessibility are mentioned more often.