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The well-being of older people is currently a priority, due both to the rapid ageing of the population and the negative effects generated by the COVID 19 pandemic. Under the “Active and Healthy Ageing” approach, different sorts of activities, especially tourism, and their influence on improving the well-being of older people are analysed. The effects of tourist activities on people's well-being are supported in many studies, however, there are few works focused on older people and, specifically, the most disadvantaged who attend social programmes. The main research question in this study is to analyse whether participation in a social tourism programme has a positive influence on the subjective well-being of older people. Likewise, age, gender, frequency and duration of trips, and their impacts on well-being are all analysed. To do so, a sample of seniors who had participated in IMSERSO trips (Spanish Institute for the Elderly and Social Services) was surveyed to quantify their levels of well-being after the trip. The results showed that they presented high levels of subjective well-being and that age, gender, and frequency of trip were factors that impacted on that perception. With regard to the trip itself, those who travelled more frequently presented higher levels of well-being, while the influence of trip duration was not significant.

Ageing has become a ubiquitous concern in European policy. Critics have bemoaned that such policies are not so much about older people but rather about finding justification for other policy aims, such as economic growth or technological innovation. However, such critiques do not capture the co-constitutive relationship between ageing and innovation shaping one another. Using the example of the Silver Economy discourse, we show that ageing has not only been reframed under the imperatives of economic and innovation policies, but that ageing itself can also affect those policies. In its formative stages, the Silver Economy was characterised by a number of tensions between, on the one hand, common ageist assumptions about old age and, on the other hand, alternative visions of what ageing could mean as a policy field. However, these potentials have later been domesticated within the broader field of Active and Healthy Ageing. In this Forum Article, we therefore hypothesise what it would mean to take ageing more seriously as a driver of progressive politics as indicated in those formative years of the Silver Economy. Such a speculative take on current old-age policy, we hold, opens up a number of fruitful avenues and new interfaces between critical researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in driving progressive politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The integration of stakeholders is crucial in developing smart living technologies to support the autonomy of elderly populations. Despite the clear benefits of these technologies, there remains a significant gap in comprehensive research. Methods: This study presents the viewpoints of 19 stakeholders from Europe and Japan, focusing on the sustainability of smart living solutions for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). Data were gathered through qualitative semi-structured interviews and analysed using a Framework Analysis approach. Results: Analysis of the interviews revealed six key sustainability categories: addressing the unmet needs of older adults, functionalities of the smart living coach, integration within organizations, identified barriers, financial considerations, and the social role of the smart living coach. Conclusions: This research underscores the importance of evaluating user needs through the involvement of various stakeholders, including the elderly, their caregivers, professionals, technicians, service providers, and government bodies. Collaborative efforts are essential to generate new evidence demonstrating the value of smart living solutions in facilitating Active and Healthy Ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing use of digital platforms among older adults has brought increased challenges to the design and development process, thus requiring considering age-related needs and changes. Nonetheless, a growing body of research suggests that different types of applications of digital platforms, i.e., digital games, can foster new opportunities to encourage active and healthy ageing (AHA) by promoting knowledge acquisition, developing competences, fostering well-being, and deepening social connections. Therefore, this study aims to assess older adults’ perspectives and participation in digital game-related strategies and how these can foster AHA. A mixed-methods approach was applied, resorting to field notes and a questionnaire, involving 18 participants aged between 63 and 81, at the Ageing Lab (Laboratório do Envelhecimento). Through 10 exploratory digital gaming-related sessions over approximately two months, participants were introduced to game-related strategies and online communities. Overall, this study sustained previous research about the influence of digital games and online communities in the promotion of AHA, by encouraging participation in society, acquisition of new digital competences in the dimensions of information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, and safety; and maintaining one’s health and well-being. Moreover, findings suggest that continued contact with information and communication technologies stimulates digital proficiency, thus further fostering inclusion in an increasingly digital society.

The growing use of digital platforms among older adults has brought increased challenges to the design and development process, thus requiring considering age-related needs and changes. Nonetheless, a growing body of research suggests that different types of applications of digital platforms, i.e., digital games, can foster new opportunities to encourage active and healthy ageing (AHA) by promoting knowledge acquisition, developing competences, fostering well-being, and deepening social connections. Therefore, this study aims to assess older adults' perspectives and participation in digital game-related strategies and how these can foster AHA. A mixed-methods approach was applied, resorting to field notes and a questionnaire, involving 18 participants aged between 63 and 81, at the Ageing Lab (Laboratório do Envelhecimento). Through 10 exploratory digital gaming-related sessions over approximately two months, participants were introduced to game-related strategies and online communities. Overall, this study sustained previous research about the influence of digital games and online communities in the promotion of AHA, by encouraging participation in society, acquisition of new digital competences in the dimensions of information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, and safety; and maintaining one's health and well-being. Moreover, findings suggest that continued contact with information and communication technologies stimulates digital proficiency, thus further fostering inclusion in an increasingly digital society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide population is undergoing a fundamental change in its age structure, which challenges the health- and social-services system. The need to migrate towards a more person-centered and coordinated model of care that supports the optimization of abilities and capacities for older people has to be matched. In this sense, eHealth technologies can play a fundamental role. In this paper, through a questionnaire-based data collection using 30 primary (older people) and 32 secondary (informal caregivers) end-users, we share our vision on how to sustainably develop a product by optimizing the user experience and ensuring adoption. We hypothesized that a technology-based intervention can promote healthy ageing through informed and active user involvement at all stages of the care process. Both older adults and caregivers consider the use of a smartphone and smartwatch to be very important; in addition, the use of digital devices for healthcare can be helpful. Seniors care about self-monitoring health parameters through the use of wearable devices, regardless of their health status, and would like to be included in the process of making good health decisions, because they need to feel in control of their healthcare process. Digital solutions in health and care can support the well-being of older adults in many areas of their daily lives, both at home and in their communities, but only if such innovation is designed around the natural voice of the intended target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since life expectancy has increased significantly over the past century, society is being forced to discover innovative ways to support active aging and elderly care. The e-VITA project, which receives funding from both the European Union and Japan, is built on a cutting edge method of virtual coaching that focuses on the key areas of active and healthy aging. The requirements for the virtual coach were ascertained through a process of participatory design in workshops, focus groups, and living laboratories in Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. Several use cases were then chosen for development utilising the open-source Rasa framework. The system uses common representations such as Knowledge Bases and Knowledge Graphs to enable the integration of context, subject expertise, and multimodal data, and is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Japanese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The integration of stakeholders is crucial in developing smart living technologies to support the autonomy of elderly populations. Despite the clear benefits of these technologies, there remains a significant gap in comprehensive research. Methods: This study presents the viewpoints of 19 stakeholders from Europe and Japan, focusing on the sustainability of smart living solutions for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). Data were gathered through qualitative semi-structured interviews and analysed using a Framework Analysis approach. Results: Analysis of the interviews revealed six key sustainability categories: addressing the unmet needs of older adults, functionalities of the smart living coach, integration within organizations, identified barriers, financial considerations, and the social role of the smart living coach. Conclusions: This research underscores the importance of evaluating user needs through the involvement of various stakeholders, including the elderly, their caregivers, professionals, technicians, service providers, and government bodies. Collaborative efforts are essential to generate new evidence demonstrating the value of smart living solutions in facilitating Active and Healthy Ageing.

The present study explores the design and implementation of public policies focusing on ageing by Portuguese local governments, considering the lack of a centralized national strategy for active and healthy ageing to guide and be customized at a local level. To take stock of what is being accomplished at the city council level, we first collected and analyzed the available local strategies and further explored the process of elaboration and implementation through semi-structured interviews in four case studies. Findings suggest that only a small percentage of local governments have a strategic plan for (active and healthy) ageing. The first was launched in 2008, but most have been in place for only a few years, indicating that local governments are growing more aware of their relevance and necessity. The qualitative data supports the vital importance of this policy instrument; however, lacking centralized guidelines, the process of elaboration and implementation is idiosyncratic and prone to strategic shortcomings. Common to all is the agreement with the role of the strategy in meeting older people's needs and expectations, currently attuned with ageing located in the community with the least disruption possible. These results provide some cues to what may be a conceptual and operational framework of healthy ageing policies to apply at the local level, privileging more flexible, fair, and adjusted approaches to the needs of older individuals in different territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maddalena Illario,1– 3 Vincenzo De Luca,1 Gabrielle Onorato,2 Giovanni Tramontano,2,3 Ana Maria Carriazo,2,4 Regina Elisabeth Roller-Wirnsberger,5 Joao Apostolo,6 Patrik Eklund,7 Nandu Goswami,8 Guido Iaccarino,9 Maria Triassi,1 John Farrell,2 Jean Bousquet2,10 1Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy; 2Executive Board, EIP on AHA Reference Sites Collaborative Network, Brussels, Belgium; 3Research & Development Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Federico II, Naples, Italy; 4Deputy Regional Ministry, Regional Ministry of Health and Families of Andalusia, Seville, Spain; 5Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 6Health and Care Sciences Research Unit, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; 7Department of Computing Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; 8Division of Physiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 9Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Avanzate, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy; 10MACVIA-France, Fondation partenariale FMC VIA-LR, Montpellier, FranceCorrespondence: Maddalena Illario, Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Sergio Pansini n.5, Naples, 80131, Italy, Tel +39 0817464211, Fax +39 0817464212, Email illario@unina.it Nandu Goswami, Division of Physiology, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6, Graz, 8010, Austria, Tel +43 31638573852, Fax +43 31638579005, Email nandu.goswami@medunigraz.atAbstract: The article describes some of the achievements of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA), after eight years in operation. These results were achieved thanks to the collaborative work of the action groups (AGs) and reference sites (RSs). RS regional ecosystems include key organisations committed to investing in innovation to foster active and healthy ageing. The AGs are groups of professionals committed to sharing their knowledge and skills in active and healthy ageing. This article reports on the approach used by the EIP on AHA to bring together experts and regions in identifying and addressing these challenges. Synergies between AGs offered substantial support to RSs, allowing regional health and care priorities and challenges to be identified and pursued through AG commitments. Building upon the experiences of the EIP on AHA, the Reference Sites Collaborative Network has set up a number of thematic action groups that bring together multidisciplinary experts from across Europe to address the main health and social care challenges at regional, national and European level.Keywords: active and healthy ageing, digital health, health policy, health innovation

Since life expectancy has increased significantly over the past century, society is being forced to discover innovative ways to support active aging and elderly care. The e-VITA project, which receives funding from both the European Union and Japan, is built on a cutting edge method of virtual coaching that focuses on the key areas of active and healthy aging. The requirements for the virtual coach were ascertained through a process of participatory design in workshops, focus groups, and living laboratories in Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. Several use cases were then chosen for development utilising the open-source Rasa framework. The system uses common representations such as Knowledge Bases and Knowledge Graphs to enable the integration of context, subject expertise, and multimodal data, and is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Japanese.

IoT technologies generate intelligence and connectivity and develop knowledge to be used in the decision-making process. However, research that uses big data through global interconnected infrastructures, such as the 'Internet of Things' (IoT) for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA), is fraught with several ethical concerns. A large-scale application of IoT operating in diverse piloting contexts and case studies needs to be orchestrated by a robust framework to guide ethical and sustainable decision making in respect to data management of AHA and IoT based solutions. The main objective of the current article is to present the successful completion of a collaborative multiscale research work, which addressed the complicated exercise of ethical decision making in IoT smart ecosystems for older adults. Our results reveal that among the strong enablers of the proposed ethical decision support model were the participatory and deliberative procedures complemented by a set of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to operationalize core ethical values such as transparency, trust, and fairness in real care settings for older adults and their caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The situation of multiple socioeconomic and housing emergency crises associated with the ageing of the population raises new challenges for the construction industry. Establishing a relationship between people, the environment and digital technologies opens up broad possibilities for design innovation and in relation to construction, management and use practices in housing for the elderly. This paper investigates evolved housing models composed of interoperable ICT/IoT technological and spatial solutions. The objective of the research is to draw up a code of practice, starting from environmental and technological requirements for spaces and services, as well as quality and performance indicators (KPI) for a new culture of dwelling, with provisions for their replicability, adaptability and scalability to a variety of use settings.

The situation of multiple socioeconomic and housing emergency crises associated with the ageing of the population raises new challenges for the construction industry. Establishing a relationship between people, the environment and digital technologies opens up broad possibilities for design innovation and in relation to construction, management and use practices in housing for the elderly. This paper investigates evolved housing models composed of interoperable ICT/IoT technological and spatial solutions. The objective of the research is to draw up a code of practice, starting from environmental and technological requirements for spaces and services, as well as quality and performance indicators (KPI) for a new culture of dwelling, with provisions for their replicability, adaptability and scalability to a variety of use settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IoT technologies generate intelligence and connectivity and develop knowledge to be used in the decision-making process. However, research that uses big data through global interconnected infrastructures, such as the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA), is fraught with several ethical concerns. A large-scale application of IoT operating in diverse piloting contexts and case studies needs to be orchestrated by a robust framework to guide ethical and sustainable decision making in respect to data management of AHA and IoT based solutions. The main objective of the current article is to present the successful completion of a collaborative multiscale research work, which addressed the complicated exercise of ethical decision making in IoT smart ecosystems for older adults. Our results reveal that among the strong enablers of the proposed ethical decision support model were the participatory and deliberative procedures complemented by a set of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to operationalize core ethical values such as transparency, trust, and fairness in real care settings for older adults and their caregivers.

We recently proposed a novel intelligent newscaster chatbot for digital inclusion. Its controlled dialogue stages (consisting of sequences of questions that are generated with hybrid Natural Language Generation techniques based on the content) support entertaining personalisation, where user interest is estimated by analysing the sentiment of his/her answers. A differential feature of our approach is its automatic and transparent monitoring of the abstraction skills of the target users. In this work we improve the chatbot by introducing enhanced monitoring metrics based on the distance of the user responses to an accurate characterisation of the news content. We then evaluate abstraction capabilities depending on user sentiment about the news and propose a Machine Learning model to detect users that experience discomfort with precision, recall, F1 and accuracy levels over 80%.

The population is getting old, and the use of technology has improved the quality of life of the senior population. This is confirmed by the increasing number of solutions targeting healthy and active ageing. Such solutions keep track of the daily routine of the elderly and combine it with other relevant information (e.g., biosignals, physical activity, social activity, nutrition) to help identify early signs of decline. Caregivers and elders use this information to improve their routine, focusing on improving the current condition. With that in mind, we have developed a software platform to support My-AHA, which is composed of a multi-platform middleware, a decision support system (DSS), and a dashboard. The middleware seamlessly merges data coming from multiple platforms targeting health and active ageing, the DSS performs an intelligent computation on top of the collected data, and the dashboard provides a user’s interaction with the whole system. To show the potential of the proposed My-AHA software platform, we introduce the My Personal Dashboard web-based application over a frailty use case to illustrate how senior well-being can benefit from the use of technology.

This study investigates risks associated with using information and communication technology (ICT) in elderly care. A qualitative analysis based on grounded theory has been performed using data gathered from various generations of Polish adults (adult children, their parents, and grandparents). The main risks include deterioration of family relationships, inadequate skills needed for software and equipment operation, and unreliability of solutions. The consequences for various stakeholders, such as potential end-users, caregivers, and organizations, have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Exergames have been the subject of research and technology innovations for a number of years. Different devices and technologies have been utilized to train the body and the mind of senior people or different patient groups. In the past, we presented FitForAll, the protocol efficacy of which was proven through widely taken (controlled) pilots with more than 116 seniors for a period of two months. The current piece of work expands this and presents the first truly web exergaming platform, which is solely based on HTML5 and JavaScript without any browser plugin requirements. The adopted architecture (controller application communication framework) combines a unified solution for input devices such as MS Kinect and Wii Balance Βoard which may seamlessly be exploited through standard physical exercise protocols (American College of Sports Medicine guidelines) and accommodate high detail logging; this allows for proper pilot testing and usability evaluations in ecologically valid Living Lab environments. The latter type of setups is also used herein for evaluating the web application with more than a dozen of real elderly users following quantitative approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently much research has been conducted on early detection of cognitive and physical status deterioration in elderly adults. Primarily the focus is on gait analysis methodologies exploiting average speed, however this presents an issue when used for context aware applications. Additionally data capture tends to be in short bursts over a long period, allowing for localized temporal factors, such as short term injury, to potentially skew measurements. As such this work collects gait and trajectory IoT data from elderly adults in senior homes ('in the wild') over a sustained period of time (1 year). Density based clustering algorithms are then applied to the data to provide long-term insights into how the high density regions change over time. The data is collected, analyzed and made available by the indoor analytics client utilizing available processing resources and delivers the analytics outcome even when it is hosted in hardware with constrained resources. Promising results are obtained from the long-term study, suggesting that this form of evaluation has strong potential in the analysis of cognitive and physical status deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A core operational definition of active and healthy aging (AHA) is needed to conduct comparisons. A conceptual AHA framework proposed by the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing Reference Site Network includes several items such as functioning (individual capability and underlying body systems), well-being, activities and participation, and diseases (including noncommunicable diseases, frailty, mental and oral health disorders). The instruments proposed to assess the conceptual framework of AHA have common applicability and availability attributes. The approach includes core and optional domains/instruments depending on the needs and the questions. A major common domain is function, as measured by the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). WHODAS 2.0 can be used across all diseases and healthy individuals. It covers many of the AHA dimensions proposed by the Reference Site network. However, WHODAS 2.0 does not include all dimensions proposed for AHA assessment. The second common domain is health-related quality of life (HRQoL). A report of the AHA questionnaire in the form of a spider net has been proposed to facilitate usual comparisons across individuals and groups of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]