Brain@Home: Moving and Enhancing Brain Training for an Active Life
Casa di Cura Privata del Policlinico (CCPP) is part of the European Brain@Home project: Moving and Enhancing brain training for an active life, co-funded by the International AAL program on Joint Call 2015 “Living Actively and Independently at Home”. This project is part of the support actions for older adults, to develop solutions to live longer autonomously at home through the contribution of new technologies (“support for older people to live longer in their homes with the contribution of ICT based solutions “).
The project, co-funded by MIUR for the Italian side, is coordinated at European level by SIVECO Romania, in collaboration with 5 other partners from 3 countries: Casa di Cura Privata del Policlinico (Italy), MediaHospital (Italy), Pannon Business Network Association (Hungary ), Karma Interactive (Hungary) and the University of Bucharest (Romania). For a detailed presentation of the project partners, refer to the institutional website.
Start date: June 2, 2016
Duration: 30 months
Background
According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2006), the population is becoming increasingly older, thanks to the growing improvement in global health. It is estimated that by 2050, over 22% of the world’s population will reach the age of 60 or more, a phenomenon that is already underway in some Western countries such as Germany, Italy or Sweden. The incidence rate of chronic neurological diseases on this phenomenon is expected to increase by 57% by 2020.
As a result, the increase in healthcare costs is bound to persist, as population aging is one of the key drivers of medical spending at unsustainable levels in the Western world (WHO, 2006). Therefore, all involved parties (healthcare providers, private insurers, public and private healthcare providers, individuals) are required to develop innovative solutions that could alleviate system costs. Aging is a complex process and it is urgent to produce support that meets your needs in personalized optics. Despite the fact that digital literacy and technological implementation are traditionally low in the elderly population, there is also a great deal of positive evidence that older people can easily accept technological measures and that, once the right support and the right tools, are able to improve both their mental and physical health through dedicated and customized training programs. A large number of technologies in assisted living contexts focus on how to increase the security and ability to carry out everyday activities of the individual at home, for example through fall detection systems, security locks and continuous monitoring and distance of vital parameters or adhesion to pharmacological therapies. Much less attention is paid to the gradual loss of cognitive functions and relational abilities in the social environment. These situations can lead to early loss of autonomy, isolation situations, lack of social contacts, depression and anxiety in people who still live in their home. In addition, cognitive decline is often perceived by the individual as stigmatizing his condition, much more than a decline in motor skills.
Goals
The Brain@Home project aims to create a solution that supports the elderly population in the aging process and natural cognitive decline, with the ultimate aim of improving quality of life (QoL) and hence the independence of the subjects involved as long as possible.
The Brain@Home project is developing a motivating application to promote, thanks to technology, healthy and active aging through targeted activities:
- Increase the Quality of Life (QoL) and,
- Improve cognitive skills linked to natural aging (eg attention, memory, executive functions)
- Improve active social participation and the ability to entertain positive social relationships during aging
There are numerous scientific evidence that identify both the positive effects of mentally stimulating activity on cognition during aging and the protective effect of a socially active lifestyle against dementia in older age.
Activities
Main idea of the Brain@Home project are based on the assumption that older adults need to train brain functions through specific activities in order to adequately cope with daily life activities and to enhance their cognitive abilities and their functional independence. Certainly, good cognitive training would allow longer autonomous life, with greater control over your decisions and less need to count on formal and informal caregivers.
Cognitive Training is a type of training that includes structured exercises with specific cognitive functions. Various evidence confirms the presence of brain plasticity in older people, which means that it can work positively for its maintenance through mentally stimulating activities.
It is intended to reinforce specific cognitive functions that, from the recent literature, are more sensitive to Computerize Cognitive Training (CCT) [1] such as:
- Memory: ability to learn, maintain, and recall information in the short and long term
- Attention: Select relevant information for our purposes, keep the concentration
- The ability to organize information, use strategies to solve tasks
Research
Over the next two and a half years, 3 pilot centers will be activated in Romania, Italy and Hungary. Each research center will involve in a pilot study 40 elderly healthy people older than 65 years of age.
Casa di Cura Privata del Policlinico is committed to:
- Conduct an analysis of requirements that will help determine the needs or conditions the end product needs to respond to, and this will only be possible through the involvement of people who will be able to suggest which dimensions may be more interesting.
- Identify sequences of multidimensional cognitive training, especially for memory, attention, executive functions
- Develop a multicenter scientific experiment with RCT design, of which CCPP will be responsible for the 3 European countries involved.
Tools
Participants will use a tablet to access “virtual” visits to cultural and interest sites: museums, libraries, monuments, cities. The system will also offer the opportunity to share, if interested, travel experiences on and game performance (rankings, scores) with other participants involved. Creating socialization, meeting and participation opportunities remains one of the main goals
Main Inclusion Criterias:
- n. 120 healthy participants aged 65 to 80 years
- Absence of neurological disorders
- No psychiatric disorders
- Minimal computer skills
Method
- The training will consist of 3 interactive sessions with the platform and with virtual exploration and braintraining (travel experiences and cognitive exercises) of 45 minutes.
- During each session, the participant will have to access the B@H platform via tablet and run the exercise program created specifically for a training path
Project Leaders
Dr. Massimo Corbo, Scientific Supervisor
Dr Valeria Ginex, Principal Investigator
Dr. Cecilia Monti, Co-Investigator
Contacts
Researcher, Dr Valeria Ginex
Mail: v.ginex@ccppdezza.it
Project Coordinator, Dr. Valentina Brunati
Tel.: +390248593514
Mail: v.brunati@ccppdezza.it
