Challenging barriers to learn, through ACESO methodology

The ACESO project (Patient centric solution for smart and sustainable healthcare) is aiming to exploit modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in order to build an integrated health and oral-care platform in which intelligent devices use data analytics for adaptable health and wellbeing. The ACESO platform will support active patient engagement and ensure sustainable health care.

User involvement in the ACESO pilots was prepared by defining user’s inclusion and exclusion criteria, recruiting users and defining classification and assessment criteria and tools. End-user recruitment was done through the end-user organisations in three European countries..

The invitation to participate was extended to persons aged 60 years or more and to the secondary users, dental care practitioners. A total of 110 primary (30 in Romania, 30 in Slovenia and 50 in Poland) and 39 secondary users (14 in Romania, 10 in Slovenia and 15 in Poland) were recruited for the ACESO pilots.

The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment tools were collected and prepared. These included screening for sarcopenia, assessment of the capability to perform daily living tasks, cognitive assessment, etc.. Dedicated and recognised scales for the assessment of dental hygiene and health were also proposed. In addition, a salivary stimulation protocol was developed by LSDM. The “Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology” scale and the System Usability Scale were identified as relevant for user satisfaction, acceptance of technology, willingness to pay, etc.. Primary users’ profiles were defined.

Thus, in the above context, attaining the ACESO goals required that the target users are involved in the development, testing and optimisation of the platform which then reflected on their ability to learn to use the ACESO platform. Elderly, informal and professional caregivers can benefit from the ACESO solution. The reason for this is the already piloted health monitoring component in previous projects. The pilots in the INCARE AAL project have involved elderly and informal caregivers using a platform with a similar implementation of the health monitoring component with ACESO. The feedback gathered during the INCARE pilots are positive with respect to the health component.

In order to assess and classify the primary users at the start, mid and end of the pilots we employed the methods and tools that will be more thoroughly described in the paper.

The users’ acceptance of technology was also an important criterion to be assessed as part of the user involvement in the ACESO pilots and in particular when using the integrated platform for an extended period of time. We considered and used the System Usability Scale (SUS) which allows for evaluating a wide variety of products and services, including hardware, software, mobile devices, websites and applications. The involvement in the pilots with the integrated platform was conditioned by the participation together with at least one primary user under their care.

With ACESO methodology of including elderly into the process of creating the solution, we anticipate a better understanding and a shorter learning process in acquiring the knowledge to use smart platforms and services for older adults.