Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-6 - 58

Assessment of Domestic
Well-Being: From Perception
to Measurement
Sara Casaccia, Gian Marco Revel, Gloria Cosoli, and Lorenzo Scalise
N
owadays, there are plenty of sensing devices that
enable the measurement of physiological, environmental,
and behavioral parameters of people 24
hours a day, seven days a week and provide huge quantities of
different data. Data and signals coming from sensing devices,
installed in indoor or outdoor environments or often worn by
the users, generate heterogeneous and complex structured datasets,
most of the time not uniformly structured. The artificial
intelligence (AI) algorithms applied to these sets of data have
demonstrated capabilities to infer indices related to a subject's
status and well-being [1]. Well-being is a key parameter
in the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health,
considering its physical, mental, and social spheres. Quantitatively
assessing a subject's well-being is of paramount
importance if we want to assess the whole status of a person,
which is particularly useful in the case of ageing people living
alone. Assessment allows for continuous remote monitoring to
improve people's quality of life (QoL) according to their perceptions,
needs, and preferences. Technology undoubtedly
plays a pivotal role in this regard, providing us new tools to
support the objective evaluation of a subject's status, including
her/his perception of the living environment. Its potential
is huge, also in terms of support to the healthcare system and
ageing people; however, there are several engineering challenges
to consider, especially in terms of sensors integrability,
connectivity, and metrological performance, in order to obtain
reliable and accurate measurement systems.
Nowadays, technology is requiring " smartness " (just think
about smartphones, smart homes, and Smart Living Environments
(SLEs)); e-health and m-health (using information
technologies and mobile devices) are becoming key factors
when patients are not able to meet caregivers or to go to the
doctor. In combination with SLEs and Assistive Technology
(AT), it is possible to put in place new forms of support and activities
for ageing populations, while also responding to the
need to reduce outpatient visits and travels to hospitals. However,
at present very few domestic environments are equipped
with smart sensors and platforms that are able to connect athome
people with medical personnel when necessary.
58
On the other hand, the importance of ageing at home (considerable
as an individual right) is evident. In fact, the house
represents a familiar surrounding where people want to keep
living; this provides an improvement in terms of well-being
and lightens the load on the healthcare system. Therefore, it is
of paramount importance to develop and diffuse age-friendly
housing (AFH) to citizens. Indeed, this allows ageing people
to live in environments compatible with their evolving needs
and preferences, fostering their autonomy, letting them remain
active and healthy as long as possible, out of institutional care
settings (thus also reducing both load and costs on healthcare
systems, and providing a better QoL for vulnerable citizens
[2]), likewise promoting their social inclusion and engagement
(Fig.1). In fact, the house is the environment where we spend
most of our time, particularly after retirement; hence, it inevitably
impacts on our physical, social, and mental well-being.
What is more, " silver " economy is a sector involving huge
resources and attracting a lot of interest, since the population
is getting older fast (together with the healthcare costs [3], [4]):
in Europe, the share over 65 years was 19% in 2017 and is expected
to grow to 29% by 2060.
Therefore, the existing building stock should experience
major changes to become smart as well as age-friendly. Particular
attention should be paid in case of diseases or disabilities,
which result in a greater requirement for assistance and adaptation
of housing, to foster autonomy while providing the
needed support (e.g., in case of people with sensory disabilities
[5]). However, most living environments in both rural and
urban areas are still unfit to accommodate the needs of older
people to age in place. A change of perspective is crucial to explore
the needs and preferences of ageing people (identifiable
with the help of informal caregivers who are closely involved
in providing daily assistance). The relevant stakeholders
should coordinate their actions to provide supportive and assistive
home environments as an alternative to hospital care
and nursing homes, pro-actively approaching older people to
better understand their housing needs and provide them with
specific services and solutions. It is time to focus on the development
of suitable technologies and systems able to make
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
1094-6969/21/$25.00©2021IEEE
September 2021
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-6

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