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(1) Background: Insomnia is the most prevalent sleep disorder worldwide and cognitive behavioral therapy is the front-line treatment. Digital health technologies have a role to play in screening and delivering interventions remotely and without the need for human intervention. The KANOPEE app, which provides a screening and behavioral intervention for insomnia symptoms through an interaction with a virtual agent, showed encouraging results in previous studies during and after the COVID-19 lockdown, but has not yet been evaluated in a controlled study. This study aims at comparing the benefits of KANOPEE, a smartphone application dealing with insomnia complaints, with another application proposing an electronic sleep diary named “My Sleep Diary”. The acceptance and potential benefits of these digital solutions are tested in real-life settings (i.e., without soliciting human medical resources) and in the general population. (2) Methods: Subjects were included if they downloaded one of the apps between December 2020 and October 2021, and were of legal age. Both apps were available on downloading platforms in France. Primary outcome was Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and secondary outcomes were total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE) and wake time after sleep onset (WASO). (3) Results: A total of 535 users completed the intervention with KANOPEE and 489 users completed My Sleep Diary, both for 17 days. KANOPEE users improved their ISI score significantly more than sleep diary users (interaction Time*Group: F(2,2002) = 17.3, p < 0.001). Similar results were found for nocturnal sleep parameters (TST) (KANOPEE users gained 48 min of sleep after intervention, while My Sleep Diary users gained only 16 min of sleep), and particularly in the population with moderate to severe initial sleep complaints (F(4,1980) = 8.9, p < 0.001). Other sleep markers (SE and WASO) were significantly improved in the KANOPEE users compared to the sleep diary ones (p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: KANOPEE provides significantly greater benefits than an electronic sleep diary regarding reduction of insomnia complaints and estimated nocturnal sleep characteristics in a self-selected sample of the general population. Population with the most severe initial ISI score (≥15) benefited the most from the KANOPEE App compared to filling up a simple sleep diary.

BACKGROUND The SoBeezy program is an innovative intervention aiming at promoting and fostering healthy ageing and ageing in place by proposing to older adults concrete solutions to face the daily life, tackle loneliness, promote social participation and reduce digital divide thanks to a specific easy-to-use voice assistant (the BeeVA smartdisplay). OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to assess the acceptability of the SoBeezy program and of its voice assistant, and to identify the potential areas of improvement. METHODS A 12-month experimentation of the program has been deployed in real-life conditions among older adults living in the community in four pilot city of France. Launched during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 crisis, this multi-site study aimed to assess acceptability using questionnaires and interviews conducted at baseline and at the end of the experimentation. In addition, a series of meetings have been conducted with the staff SoBeezy members to have the direct feedbacks from the ground. RESULTS In total, 109 older persons have been equipped with the BeeVA to use the SoBeezy platform, among them 32 left the experimentation before its end and 69 participants completed the final questionnaires. In total, 335 interventions have been conducted and almost 40% of the participants requested services, mainly for supportive calls and visits, assistance with shopping, transportation, and crafting-gardening. Three-quarters of the whole sample considered the BeeVA as a reassuring presence and few persons reported a negative opinion on the program (15 out of the 69). The voice assistant appeared easy to use and particularly useful for participants living alone and those less comfortable with technology. They also were positive to the acquisition of the BeeVA and the SoBeezy intervention. CONCLUSIONS This multi-site study conducted in real-life conditions, among more than 100 older adults living in the community provides enlightening results of the reality on the ground on digital tools designed for the aging population. The COVID-19 context appeared both as an opportunity given the massive needs of the older adults during this crisis, but also very limiting due to the sanitary constraints. Nevertheless, the experimentation showed overall a good acceptability of the voice assistant, a high level of satisfaction of the participants among those who really used the system and could be a way of improving the autonomy and well-being of older adults and their families. However, the findings also highlighted resistance to change and difficulties for the users to ask for help. The experimentation also emphasized levers for the next deployments and future research. The next step will be the experimentation of the activity-sharing component that could not be tested due to the COVID-19 context.

The Self-Efficacy Measure for Sleep Apnea (SEMSA) is a 26-item questionnaire that investigates perceived risks, outcome expectancies and self-efficacy, i.e., the confidence to undertake treatment, in the context of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) interventions for sleep apnea syndrome. This questionnaire can be considered too lengthy for clinical practice; therefore, a shortened version is needed. 290 adults undergoing CPAP treatment completed the SEMSA-26. An item reduction process took into account both the results of statistical analyses and the expertise of a steering committee. Construct validity, reliability and external validity were tested for a 15-item short version. Additionally, CPAP adherence (usage more than 4 h per night) was collected, and receiver operating characteristics analyses were performed to establish the cut-off point of the SEMSA-15 that would best classify patients depending on their adherence. The structure of the SEMSA-15 was confirmed by principal components factor analysis. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.86. The SEMSA-15 dimension scores were highly correlated with their respective SEMSA-26 dimension scores. The self-efficacy sub-score of the SEMSA-15 obtained the best classification performance, with a cut-off point of 2.78 to predict CPAP adherence. The SEMSA-15 seems to be appropriate for use in clinical practice to investigate beliefs and perception of self-efficacy in CPAP interventions. It is, therefore, a useful tool to predict long-term adherence to treatment.

BACKGROUND Insomnia is the most prevalent sleep disorder worldwide and cognitive behavioural therapy is the front-line treatment. Digital health technologies have a role to play in screening and delivering interventions remotely and without the need for human intervention. The KANOPEE app, which provides a screening and behavioural intervention for insomnia symptoms through an interaction with a virtual agent, showed encouraging results in previous studies during and after the COVID-19 lockdown, but has not yet been evaluated in a controlled study. OBJECTIVE This study aims at comparing the benefits of KANOPEE, a smartphone application proposing repeated interactions with a virtual companion to screen and deliver personalized recommendations to deal with insomnia complaints; with another application proposing an electronic sleep diary and named “My Sleep Diary”. The acceptance and potential benefits of these digital solutions are demonstrated in real-life settings (i.e. without soliciting human medical resources) and in the general population. METHODS Subjects were included if they downloaded one of the apps between December 2020 and October 2021; and were of legal age. Both apps are available on downloading platforms in France and both groups were equivalent in terms of baseline characteristics. Primary outcome was Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and secondary outcomes were Total Sleep Time (TST) and Sleep Efficiency (SE). RESULTS 535 users completed the 17-day intervention with KANOPEE and 489 users completed My Sleep Diary for 17 days. A differential effect was obtained for KANOPEE users compared to My Sleep Diary users regarding ISI score (interaction Time*Group: F[2,2014] = 16.9, P 15) benefited the most from KANOPEE (interaction severity*Time: F[4,2014] = 26.3, P CONCLUSIONS KANOPEE provides significantly greater benefits than an electronic sleep diary regarding reduction of insomnia complaints in a self-selected sample of the general population. CLINICALTRIAL NCT05074901

The COVID-19 crisis has generated an increase of sleep problems in the general population. Digital technologies can help dealing with mental health repercussions of COVID-19 but their acceptance by the population need to be better understood. KANOPEE is a smartphone application providing interactions with a virtual companion to screen and deliver personalized advices to deal with sleep problems. In this study we tried to highlight the factors associated with acceptance of this app, among factors including user characteristics, perceived trustworthiness of the virtual companion and context of use. 3,479 users answered the acceptance questionnaires, with a very positive attitude towards the app. Results indicate that age, education, familiarity with technologies, trustworthiness of the virtual agent and length of interaction are significantly associated with acceptance of the app. To conclude, this study is one of the first to measure acceptance of a virtual companion providing support during the COVID-19 crisis, and provide avenues of research for design and evaluation of intelligent virtual agents for health.

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 crisis and consequent confinement restrictions have caused significant psychosocial stress and reports of sleep complaints, which require early management, have increased during recent months. To help individuals concerned about their sleep, we developed a smartphone-based app called KANOPEE that allows users to interact with a virtual agent dedicated to autonomous screening and delivering digital behavioral interventions. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to assess the feasibility of this app, in terms of inclusion rate, follow-up rate, perceived trust and acceptance of the virtual agent, and effects of the intervention program, in the context of COVID-19 confinement in France. METHODS The virtual agent is an artificial intelligence program using decision tree architecture and interacting through natural body motion and natural voice. A total of 2069 users aged 18 years and above downloaded the free app during the study period (April 22 to May 5, 2020). These users first completed a screening interview based on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) conducted by the virtual agent. If the users were positive for insomnia complaints (ISI score >14), they were eligible to join the 2-stage intervention program: (1) complete an electronic sleep diary for 1 week and (2) follow personalized sleep recommendations for 10 days. We collected and analyzed the following measures: sociodemographic information, ISI scores and sleep/wake schedules, and acceptance and trust of the agent. RESULTS Approximately 76% (1574/2069) of the app users completed the screening interview with the virtual agent. The virtual agent was well accepted by 27.4% (431/1574) of the users who answered the acceptance and trust questionnaires on its usability, satisfaction, benevolence, and credibility. Of the 773 screened users who reported sleep complaints (ISI score >14), 166 (21.5%) followed Step 1 of the intervention, and only 47 of those (28.3%) followed Step 2. Users who completed Step 1 found that their insomnia complaints (baseline mean ISI score 18.56, mean ISI score after Step 1 15.99; PP21) did not respond to either intervention. CONCLUSIONS These preliminary results suggest that the KANOPEE app is a promising solution to screen populations for sleep complaints and that it provides acceptable and practical behavioral advice for individuals reporting moderately severe insomnia.

Sleep apnea syndrome treatment relies primarily on continuous positive airway pressure, which requires a homecare follow-up. Excessive daytime sleepiness is a key symptom to be measured during follow-up, and there is a need for more easy-to-administer, ecological and engaging tools to assess it. Virtual agents have shown their effectiveness in performing clinical evaluation in a medical environment. A virtual agent assessing excessive daytime sleepiness via the Epworth Sleepiness Scale has been tested at home by 102 patients treated by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and their homecare providers. Acceptance and trustworthiness of the agent, as well as the influence of demographics and clinical characteristics of patients, were investigated. Results showed that both patients and homecare providers reported a positive attitude towards the virtual agent, which was found to be usable, satisfactory, credible and benevolent. Homecare providers reported that it was not a burden to their working routine. Positive regression coefficients were found between patients' and homecare providers' attitudes towards the virtual agent. We found no influence of patients' demographics and clinical characteristics on their acceptance of the virtual agent. This shows that virtual agents are well accepted by patients and homecare providers, independently of their demographics and clinical characteristics. Positive regression coefficients observed between patients' and homecare providers' perceptions of the agent indicate that the opinions of both influence acceptance of the virtual agent in a homecare context. Virtual agents are new innovative digital solutions to be considered in homecare follow-up of apneic patients treated by CPAP.

International audience; Ambient Assistive Living (AAL) technologies provide promising solutions to support aging-in-place but still lack ecological validation. Frail older Individuals (FIs) are at high risk of losing their autonomy but are also acknowledged to be an optimal target population for dependency prevention based on environmental supports. In this context, a recent study revealed some promising short-term benefits of an AAL platform in supporting FIs’ everyday functioning and releasing caregiver burden. Research aim: Complementarily to this first study, we aimed to address near and far effects of an AAL platform on FIs’ everyday functioning and caregiver burden. Method: HomeAssist is an AAL platform providing environmental support thanks to services including activity verification, safety alerts, reminders, communication and leisure activities. HomeAssist efficacy has been evaluated in a field study including a nine-month deployment in the home of sixteen cognitively healthy (MMSE > 25) FIs living alone. Several efficacy measures were taken and compared to a control group (n=16), matched by age, gender, cognitive functioning and frailty condition. These measures included FIs’ autonomy (self-reported and reported by a caregiver) and caregiver burden (for supporting FIs’ autonomy and professional burnout) and were assessed at baseline, six, and nine months later. Results: Our results indicated that: (1) FIs’ autonomy reported by caregivers is improved over time for the equipped group, with a greater extent after 9 months; (2) FIs’ self-perception of everyday functioning remained constant after 9 months for the equipped group, whereas it slightly decreased for the control group; and (3) caregivers reported less burden across time in the equipped group compared to control group; while HomeAssist intervention did not significantly impact professional burden. Conclusion: Taken together, this suggests that near effects of HomeAssist are not only due to novelty, but rather benefits from HomeAssist intervention.

Background: The COVID-19 crisis induces psychosocial stress and sleep complaints that require early management. KANOPEE is a smartphone-based application, providing an interaction with a virtual agent dedicated to screen and deliver behavioral interventions to fight sleep disorders. This paper describes the feasibility study of this application, during the context of COVID-19 confinement in France. Method: 2,069 users of aged 18 years and over downloaded the app during the inclusion period (between 22 April and 5 May 2020). Users first answered a screening interview based on the insomnia severity index (ISI) that was conducted by the virtual agent. If participants were positive for insomniac complaints (ISI > 14), they could join a two-stage intervention program: a) complete an electronic sleep diary for one week, and b) follow personalized sleep recommendations for 10 days. Measures collected included socio-demographic information, ISI and sleep/wake schedules; and acceptance and trust of the agent. Findings: Of all participants, 80% (n=1,574) completed the screening interview with the virtual agent. The virtual agent was well accepted by users regarding its usability, satisfaction, benevolence, and credibility. Of the 773 screened subjects who reported sleep complaints (ISI>14), 214 of them followed the first step of the intervention (34%). Of these, 47 (31%) followed the second step. Users who completed step 1 found that their insomnia complaints (p > .001) and nocturnal sleep improved significantly after one week. Subjects who completed step 2 also showed an improvement compared to the initial measure (p 21) did not respond to either intervention. Interpretation: These preliminary results show that KANOPEE is a promising solution to screen populations for sleep complaints, and that it provides practical and effective behavioral advice for subjects reporting moderately severe insomnia. Funding: LABEX BRAIN, EQUIPEX PHENOVIRT, and Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: Following prior approval by the University and Hospital scientific committees, we obtained authorizations to be registered on the University Hospital register for GDPR approval by the French authorities (CNIL). Informed consent was obtained from all persons downloading the app according to the General Data Protection Regulation and CNIL regulations.

International audience; Background : Everyday functioning becomes a challenge with aging, particularly among frail oldest-old adults. Several factors have been identified as influencing everyday activities realization, including physical and cognitive functioning. However, the influence of cognitive resources as a compensatory factor in the context of physical frailty deserves further consideration.Aims :This study aims to investigate in older adults physically frail the possible compensatory role of cognitive resources to perform everyday tasks.Methods :Two groups of community-dwelling old participants (n = 26 per group) matched for their age and cognitive resources, have been drawn according to their level of physical functioning. Two measures of everyday functioning have been assessed: one self-reported by the participant (the IADL scale) and one performance-based measure (the TIADL tasks).Results: Participants performed equally the TIADL tasks irrespective of their physical condition. Contrariwise, participants with low physical functioning reported more everyday difficulties than their counterparts with a high level of physical functioning. Additionally, regressions analyses revealed differential influence of cognitive resources on performance and reported measures of everyday functioning.Discussion : Our data suggests that cognitive resources are more strongly involved in the performance-based IADL measure in situation of physical frailty. Additionally, for participants with low physical functioning, lower cognitive resources are associated with more perceived difficulties in everyday life.Conclusion: These results highlight the compensatory role of cognitive resources in physically frail older adults, and suggest that an overestimation of everyday difficulties compared to performance on IADL tasks is an early indicator of physical decline and cognitive compensation.

Psychiatric diagnostic relies on physician's ability to create an empathic interaction with the patient (i.e., engage the patient in the conversation with empathic sentences, while keeping an emotional distance) in order to accurately extract semiology (i.e., clinical manifestations). Virtual patients (VPs) offer new ways to train these skills but need to be validated in terms of accuracy to measure the skills of interest, and be perceived positively by its users. We recruited 34 medicine students, who interacted with a VP suffering from depressive disorders. Results suggest good abilities for the students to use empathic sentences to communicate with the VP, but results varied regarding semiology extraction, students having a specialty in psychiatry performing better than their counterparts. Additionally, results suggest that students managed to keep an emotional distance during the interaction with the VP, but they let their emotions out when answering semiology questions. Positive feedbacks and limitations raised by students during debriefing interviews provide suggestions for improvements and ideas for future works.

Objectif Evaluer l’efficacite de KANOPEE, une application sur smartphone qui propose une interaction avec un agent virtuel dans le but de realiser un depistage et de delivrer une TCC-I personnalisee, et ce dans deux contextes particuliers : pendant le confinement du COVID-19, et durant les 4 mois qui ont suivi le confinement. Methodes L’application est accessible gratuitement sur les plateformes de telechargement. L’efficacite de KANOPEE etait evaluee concernant : – la reduction des plaintes d’insomnie (mesuree a l’aide de l’Index de Severite de l’Insomnie [ISI]) ; – l’amelioration de l’efficacite de sommeil ([SE], mesuree par un agenda du sommeil). Resultats Pendant le confinement, 1 576 utilisateurs ont repondu a l’entretien de depistage, et 47 ont complete le programme de TCC-I, et apres le confinement,1662 ont repondu au depistage et 83 sujets ont suivi la TCC-I. Les analyses multivariees revelent que dans ces deux contextes les sujets ont significativement reduit leurs plaintes de sommeil (pendant le confinement : ISIbaseline = 18,93 ; ISIfin de TCC-I = 14,78 ; p Conclusion Les agents virtuels sont une solution prometteuse pour la mise en place de TCC-I aupres de la population generale, a la fois dans un contexte de crise sanitaire ou dans un contexte de soin generalise.

Objectif Le syndrome d’apnees du sommeil est traite en premiere intention par Pression Positive Continue (PPC) ce qui necessite un suivi a domicile par un technicien. La somnolence diurne excessive (SDE) est un symptome cle qui doit etre mesure a chaque visite de suivi, il est donc necessaire de concevoir des outils de mesures qui soient faciles a administrer et engageants pour les patients. Les agents virtuels ont montre leur utilite pour realiser des diagnostics medicaux en milieu hospitalier, mais aucune etude ne s’est interessee a la situation de soin a domicile. Methodes Un agent virtuel evaluant la SDE a ete teste a domicile aupres de 102 patients et leur technicien de suivi PPC. L’acceptabilite et le sentiment de confiance de l’agent ont ete evalue, ainsi que l’influence des caracteristiques demographiques et cliniques des patients sur ces dimensions. Resultats L’agent virtuel est bien accepte a la fois par le patient et de son technicien, qui le percoivent comme etant facile a utiliser, satisfaisant, credible et bienveillant. Les techniciens rapportent que l’agent virtuel ne constitue pas une charge sur leur routine de travail. Aucune influence significative des caracteristiques demographiques et cliniques du patient n’a ete observee, ce qui montre que les agents virtuels sont bien acceptes par les patients, quelques soient leurs caracteristiques demographiques et cliniques. Conclusion Les agents virtuels sont donc de nouvelles solutions innovantes a prendre en consideration pour le suivi de patients apneiques traites par PPC.

Objectif Etudier la faisabilite de KANOPEE, une application qui dispense un entretien avec un agent virtuel, dans le but de depister et de prendre en charge les plaintes de sommeil, pendant le confinement du COVID-19. Methodes 2069 utilisateurs ont telecharge KANOPEE entre le 22 avril et le 5 mai 2020. Si, a la suite du depistage base sur l’Index de Severite de l’Insomnie (ISI), les sujets presentent des plaintes de sommeil significatives (ISI > 14), un programme interventionnel en 2 etapes est propose : – completer un agenda du sommeil sur le smartphone pendant une semaine ; – suivre des recommandations de sommeil personnalisees pendant 10 jours. Les mesures incluent l’ISI, les horaires de sommeil nocturne (via l’agenda), et l’acceptabilite de l’agent virtuel. Resultats Parmi les 773 sujets qui presentaient des plaintes de sommeil, 34 % ont complete l’etape 1 de l’intervention. Pour ces derniers, une amelioration significative des plaintes de sommeil (ISIdepistage : 18,56 ; ISIfin etape 1 : 15,99 ; p Conclusion Ces resultats preliminaires montrent que KANOPEE est une solution prometteuse pour depister les plaintes de sommeil en population generale et propose des interventions pratiques et efficaces pour les sujets rapportant des plaintes de sommeil.

Background The COVID-19 crisis and consequent confinement restrictions have caused significant psychosocial stress and reports of sleep complaints, which require early management, have increased during recent months. To help individuals concerned about their sleep, we developed a smartphone-based app called KANOPEE that allows users to interact with a virtual agent dedicated to autonomous screening and delivering digital behavioral interventions. Objective Our objective was to assess the feasibility of this app, in terms of inclusion rate, follow-up rate, perceived trust and acceptance of the virtual agent, and effects of the intervention program, in the context of COVID-19 confinement in France. Methods The virtual agent is an artificial intelligence program using decision tree architecture and interacting through natural body motion and natural voice. A total of 2069 users aged 18 years and above downloaded the free app during the study period (April 22 to May 5, 2020). These users first completed a screening interview based on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) conducted by the virtual agent. If the users were positive for insomnia complaints (ISI score >14), they were eligible to join the 2-stage intervention program: (1) complete an electronic sleep diary for 1 week and (2) follow personalized sleep recommendations for 10 days. We collected and analyzed the following measures: sociodemographic information, ISI scores and sleep/wake schedules, and acceptance and trust of the agent. Results Approximately 76% (1574/2069) of the app users completed the screening interview with the virtual agent. The virtual agent was well accepted by 27.4% (431/1574) of the users who answered the acceptance and trust questionnaires on its usability, satisfaction, benevolence, and credibility. Of the 773 screened users who reported sleep complaints (ISI score >14), 166 (21.5%) followed Step 1 of the intervention, and only 47 of those (28.3%) followed Step 2. Users who completed Step 1 found that their insomnia complaints (baseline mean ISI score 18.56, mean ISI score after Step 1 15.99; P21) did not respond to either intervention. Conclusions These preliminary results suggest that the KANOPEE app is a promising solution to screen populations for sleep complaints and that it provides acceptable and practical behavioral advice for individuals reporting moderately severe insomnia.

International audience

This study examines the process of learning to walk from a functional perspective. To move forward, one must generate and control propulsive forces. To achieve this, it is necessary to create and tune a distance between the centre of mass (CoM) and the centre of pressure (CoP) along the antero-posterior axis. We hypothesize that learning to walk consists of learning how to calibrate these self-generated propulsive forces to control such distance. We investigated this question with six infants (three girls and three boys) who we followed up weekly for the first 8 weeks after the onset of walking and then biweekly until they reached 14-16 weeks of walking experience. The infants' walking patterns (kinematics and propelling forces) were captured via synched motion analysis and force plate. The results show that the distance between the CoM and the CoP along the antero-posterior axis increased rapidly during the first months of learning to walk and that this increase was correlated with an increase in velocity. The initial small values of (CoM-CoP) observed at walking onset, coupled with small velocity are interpreted as the solution infants adopted to satisfy a compromise between the need to generate propulsive forces to move forward while simultaneously controlling the disequilibrium resulting from creating a with distance between the CoM and CoP.

International audience; Supporting independent everyday functioning of older adults is a major challenge for aging in place. In particular, communication and social activities need support to prevent social isolation, cognitive and psychosocial well-being decline, and a risk of depression. This paper focuses on how technology can bring social support to isolated older-old adults (over 75 years old) and allow them to communicate with members of their social network. We present the design of an accessible and engaging email application dedicated to this population. We propose design principles based on the older adults' specificities and then use these principles to develop a tablet-based email application. We conducted a field study to evaluate our email application during 9 months. We equipped 13 community-dwelling old-older adults with a touchscreen tablet and our application at their home (compared to 13 control counterparts). This field study validates our design principles as shown by the effectiveness and efficiency gained by the participants in using our application. Moreover, we reveal the influence of health indicators in the usage behaviors and the long-term use of our application.

International audience; This paper presents HomeAssist: an assisted living platform aims to support aging in place. This platform was designed using a human-centered approach. It offers assistive services, addressing the main aspects of daily life: activities of daily living, home and user safety, and social participation. HomeAssist introduces key novel features: (1) it covers multiple aspects of daily life, addressing a variety of needs of older adults; (2) it provides customiza-tion mechanisms, adapting assistance to the user's abilities while preventing autonomy losses; (3) it relies on context awareness, delivering timely assistance; and, (4) it revolves around a unified user interface to achieve usability. All these features play a key role towards achieving high acceptance of HomeAssist and supporting autonomy effectively, as shown by our field study.

Providing technological support to assist older adults in their daily activities is a promising approach to aging in place. However, acceptance is critical when technologies are embedded in the user's life. Recently, Lee etal. established a connection between acceptance and motivation. They approached motivation via the Self-Determination Theory (SDT): the capacity to make choices and to take decisions.This paper leverages SDT to promote a new design style for gerontechnologies that consists of principles and requirements. We applied our approach to develop an assisted living platform, which was used to conduct a six-month field study with 34 older adults. We show that self-determination is a determining factor of technology acceptance. Furthermore, our platform improved the self-determination of equipped participants, compared to the control group, suggesting that our approach is effective. As such, SDT opens up new opportunities for improving the design process of gerontechnologies. Design objectives for assisted living technologies leveraging SDT.Development of an assisted living platform for older adults.Realization of a field study to evaluate the designed platform.Deployments show effective support of self-determination and technology acceptance.

International audience; This paper presents an approach to verifying the activities of daily living of older adults at their home. We verify activities, instead of inferring them, because our monitoring approach is driven by routines, initially sketched by users in their environment. Monitoring is supported by a lightweight sensor infrastructure, comprising non-intrusive, low-cost, wireless devices. Verification is performed by applying a simple formula to sensor log data, for each activity of interest. The result value determines whether an activity has been performed.We have conducted an experimental study to validate our approach. To do so, four participants have been monitored during five days at their home, equipped with sensors. When applied to the log data, our formulas were able to automatically verify that a list of activities were performed. They produced the same interpretations, using Signal Detection Theory, as a third party, manually analyzing the log data.