Investigating Changes in Mobility in Frail Older Adults using Wearable Sensors
Description: Background: Mobility is broadly defined as the ability to move safely from one place to another, and is essential to quality of life. Older adults living in long-term care (LTC) or assisted living (AL) have a high risk for mobility decline, often secondary to chronic diseases, and physical and cognitive impairment. Traditional tools for assessing, monitoring and enhancing mobility are often not amenable to this frail population. Accordingly, there is lack of understanding of the modifiable factors that influence mobility declines for these older adults. Objective: My research aims to (1) develop and evaluate a wearable sensor-based tool that can detect (and warn care providers of) significant declines in mobility, and (2) apply this tool in LTC and AL to enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying declines in mobility in these populations. Methods: The first step of the project involves the design, development and evaluation of a sensor-based tool for monitoring the quantity and quality of movements (e.g. walking, transferring, standing). Measures are acquired with young adults (n=15) in the laboratory. The next step is to acquire data as older adults from LTC and AL facilities wear the sensor system (for at least 4 days) as they go about their daily activities. In the last step, residents wear the developed system during daily life over a period of 12 months. Changes in mobility during this period are compared with changes in disease diagnoses, physical and cognitive function, and medication use. In summary, my research will enhance our understanding of the physical, cognitive and environmental factors that affect the mobility of frail older adults to guide population-based approaches to the prevention of mobility issues.
Amount: CA$825
Funding type: fellowship
Funder scheme: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support
Start date: 2017-04-01
End date: 2018-03-31
Investigator: Andreas Ejupi
Institution: Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, B.C.)
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: 152053_1
OpenAlex ID: G8291548860