MindGym Strategies for Elderly People

Marjan Gusev

, Sasko Ristov

, Jurij Tasic

, Darja Rudan Tasic

, Shushma Patel

and Dilip Patel

University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Skopje, Macedonia

University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

London South Bank University, London, U.K.

Keywords:

MindGym, Cloud Computing, IPTV, Elderly Health Care, Social Inclusion.

Abstract:

MindGym approach aims at providing an interoperable, independent living ICT solution to improve the quality

of life of older people in their home or community environment. The concept is to develop such a solution

that will enable elderly to stay active, mobile and independent for longer, keeping them in a good mental

shape. This paper addresses the strategies on how to achieve this innovation by integrating social networks,

IPTV, personalised self-care and cloud computing into an unique solution using both open source standards

and technology for maximum interoperability and affordability.

1 INTRODUCTION

Experimental studies show that older people rely on

TV and avoid complex technology solutions. How-

ever, their attitude is mostly for entertainment without

any interests, mostly expressed as ”stare at TV”, and

with limited mind activity. Recently, scientists have

reported that mind stimulation content is advisable for

elderly, since it initiates regeneration of brain.

In our earlier paper (Gusev et al., 2014) we elab-

orate the MindGym concept to build an ICT solu-

tion that will aim at mind stimulation and recreation,

therefore utilising daily routines and activities, within

their own environment and using technologies such as

interactive TV, smart remotes, and other cloud based,

seamless social media and medical plug-ins to enable

new ways of actively engaging the elderly and en-

abling independent living and mental agility. The pro-

posed system aims to use generally available house-

hold ICT to keep older people in good intellectual

shape. We plan to enhance the existing communica-

tion services that are popular with the target group

such as broadcast TV by adding interactivity, person-

alisation and social communication.

In this paper we describe strategies that will

achieve outcomes of the MindGym concept. The

overall realization is based on the following issues:

• The results will be offered via TV sets adopted for

elderly needs, avoiding complex technology

• Adding interactivity to daily routine of elderly

• Social inclusion is motivated via technology due

to limited physical abilities

• Smart remote as a second screen application pro-

vides a possibility for personalized self care

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Gen-

eral overview of the concepts, objectives, outputs and

speciﬁc objectives of the research project is given in

Section 2. Strategies to develop a MindGym system

are presented in Section 3, along with identiﬁcation of

success indicators, beneﬁts, contributions and possi-

ble obstacles. Finally, Section 4 gives the conclusion.

2 THE MINDGYM CONCEPT

2.1 Motivation

Many published articles show that cognitive stimula-

tion is healthy and can help protect our mental abili-

ties. Recent research addresses effects of interactive

systems. For example, Small et al. (Small et al., 2009)

found that interactive communication like Internet

searching increased activation in several regions of

the brain. It alters the brain’s responsiveness in neu-

ral circuits controlling decision-making and complex

reasoning. Based on this conclusion, Small and Vor-

gan (Small and Vorgan, 2008) raise a concern that if

the ﬁve days trained beginners had already rewired

their brains after a period of just ﬁve hours on the

319

Gusev M., Ristov S., Tasic J., Rudan Tasic D., Patel S. and Patel D..

MindGym Strategies for Elderly People.

DOI: 10.5220/0005483503190324

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (SocialICT-2015),

pages 319-324

ISBN: 978-989-758-102-1

 2015 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

Figure 1: Objectives of the MindGym concept (Gusev et al.,

2014).

internet, what might happen to those users spending

more hours daily with their high-tech toys like inter-

active IP-TV.

Researchers from Department of Psychology,

University of Helsinki, Finland and from Advanced

Magnetic Imaging Centre, Helsinki University of

Technology, Finland (Degerman et al., 2007) scanned

a stronger activity in the superior temporal cortices,

which is produced by attention to audio-visual feature

combinations than attention to only auditory or visual

features.

Based on previous research results, we expect that

elderly would also show changes in neural activity

associated with the social networking involved in an

interactive TV system. The interactive audio-visual

system, such as the interactive Internet TV is more

focused on stronger activity in temporal cortices than

popular Internet system representing an uncontrolled

task, where the level of cognitive processes the people

are carrying out can not be determined.

2.2 Objectives

The MindGym concept, as discussed in our earlier pa-

per (Gusev et al., 2014) is a completely new approach

to traditional interactive Internet TV and social net-

works. Major innovations include a personalised user

model system based on users brain areas activity re-

search, inﬂuenced by prescribed multimedia content,

new human computer interfaces for interactive Inter-

net TV and implementation of social networks. These

innovations will help to improve the brain activity of

the elderly, which can extend their independence and

thus help them to improve the quality of life in their

home environment.

The overall objectives of the MindGym concept,

as an IPTV system for elderly are presented in Fig.1.

The idea behind this IPTV system for elderly is

based on preservation of the vital intellectual shape

of the service users, prolonging independence of the

elderly. The objectives realised by this system in-

clude improved mental agility, social inclusion, self

care system, and solution as a service.

Figure 2: Scenario of the IPTV system for content delivery.

The basis to achieve improved mental agility is

in provision of an interactive environment and mind

stimulating content. The interactive environment does

not mean just making the existing technology more

complex, but to integrate minimalistic design and

cloud-based devices with proper user interface espe-

cially designed for elderly.

Social inclusion is provided by adoption of exist-

ing social networks in the MindGym concept. Adding

a set of sensors and other add-on devices to the core

MindGym system will enable a more powerful inte-

grated system that can provide a self-care system per-

sonalized and customized for each user.

Overall realization will be provided as a service,

with high integration of third party solutions and ser-

vices. This gives enormous business value, since a lot

of hardware, software or content providers can eas-

ily integrate the MindGym concept, offering them a

possibility to expand application of their products and

services.

2.3 Technology

In the frame of the 4-year European project called

Live Staging of Media Events (IST-LIVE, 2013), the

members from University of Ljubljana, LDOS labo-

ratory have developed a system of personalised inter-

active television with a return channel, which enables

an interaction with the viewers live or off-line, check-

ing their proﬁles, sending them interactive messages

and analysing their responses. The system of interac-

tive television developed by the LDOS laboratory pro-

gram is based on the scenario presented in the Fig.2.

In addition, the LDOS laboratory is developing a

system of social television that would enable inter-

action and communication among the viewers; chat-

rooms, videoconferences, etc. Through including ad-

ditional interactions, the system will encourage their

cognitive and social activities. Along with that the

producer of the TV channel would be able to fol-

low, encourage or supervise their activities. The sys-

tem presented in Fig.3 includes producing compo-

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nents that allow personalisation, interactivity, moni-

toring and diverse applications on the user’s side.

Figure 3: Architecture of the IPTV based system for content

delivery.

3 MINDGYM STRATEGIES

Our earlier paper (Gusev et al., 2014) discusses re-

lated work and analyses several on-going and ﬁn-

ished EU projects in the area. However, none of these

projects covers the integration of strategies to realize

the overall MindGym concept. This section presents

details on analysis of approaches, success parameters,

obstacles and limitations.

3.1 Approaches

Both business and technology aspects are subject of

the strategy for cost efﬁciency of the developed prod-

uct.

Three main technological aspects of the

MindGym concept are speciﬁed as follows:

• Hardware - including a speciﬁcation of interac-

tive TV, telemedicine sensors, remote control de-

vices and other add-ons,

• Content - based on a methodology to realise rel-

evant motivation and content that stimulates most

active participation of elderly people, and

• Software - including a speciﬁcation of corre-

sponding social network adapted for elderly peo-

ple and development of a SaaS (Software-as-a-

Service) solution (and partly with deﬁnition of

self care system).

Our vision is to set a new paradigm of ageing us-

ing recent research about active mind exercises based

on model based recommender system. It will provide

innovation in service of the elderly people by intro-

ducing interactive MindGym system based on inter-

active TV, tablets and remote devices as technology to

access the content in an interactive personalised way

with additional plugins such as self health care sys-

tem. The realisation of this innovation is based on a

multidisciplinary approach using both technology and

content user driven development of sustainable care

systems of tomorrow. Realisation of this innovation is

not just based on development of interoperable inde-

pendent living technology solutions, but also includes

guidelines for business models and methodology to

create user proﬁled content.

Transforming the social networks according to the

needs and capabilities of older people to access and

communicate with the new technology is another in-

novative approach to enable new ways of organising

society around active ageing and independent living

for older people. It will empower older people to stay

independent and autonomous for longer in their pre-

ferred home and community environment and to re-

main socially active.

The foreseen consortium realisation is based on

extensive involvement of end-users in system design

and even supported by a form of agile development.

Special attention is paid to older people’s needs. Us-

age of open source standards will ensure better inter-

operability, as well as limited availability of afford-

able and commercially viable solutions, as key to the

successful implementation of actions in this area.

From the social point of view, the project repre-

sents a new sophisticated virtual network, which is

opening its users, an additional possibility of social

access and inclusion, a new social opportunity for

more informative and communicative way of life in

spite of spending the most time in their home environ-

ments. As such supports the autonomy and enriches

activities’ diversity of excluded or disabled older peo-

ple. The included users can broaden their knowledge

about the daily practices of their peers either in urban

or rural surroundings. The practical value of the pro-

posed project is equally suited to users in both urban

and rural (or remote) environments that are of partic-

ular social importance.

3.2 Expected Impact

In this section we explain the predeﬁned objectives

MindGym concept is intended to reach, in order to

achieve the overall expected impact on elderly health,

medicine advancement and market growth.

First and foremost, the MindGym concept intends

to improve the health statistics among the elderly pop-

ulation. This will be achieved by understanding the

impact of natural audio-visual content stimuli pre-

sented by an interactive TV system linked into the

social communication network, thus resulting in im-

proving the brain activity of the elderly. With its ef-

ﬁciency being based on developing simply designed

and user-friendly interfaces, the proposed system is

completely adapted to older people’s habits. At last,

MindGymStrategiesforElderlyPeople

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the MindGym system signiﬁcantly improves indepen-

dent living and social integration of the elderly and

the disabled people by using social communication

scenarios, which encourages them to strengthen their

personal healthcare and allow them to live in their pre-

ferred home environment, thus reducing admissions

and days spent in care institutions.

Secondly, the MindGym system promotes engage-

ment in the selection of data and materials to enable

them to be involved in social experiences and stimula-

tion aimed at promoting individuality uniqueness and

choice. Also, the MindGym concept promotes expe-

riences that will enhance activity and offer stimula-

tion whilst additionally nourishing cognitive abilities,

emotional experience as well as sustaining intellec-

tual abilities. It is intended to be a new approach to

increase the mind capacity of elderly by natural stim-

uli realised on interactive Internet based TV platform

linked into social networks of elderly and their cares

may have major impact on behavioural pattern of el-

derly people. The research is set towards achieving

signiﬁcant progress on accessibility of ICT, under-

standing of brain functions and stimulations by nat-

ural AV signals, advance human-machine interaction

and intelligent computing by strong involvement of

user and content model based approach and social in-

teraction among users.

Also, the MindGym concept improves the accessi-

bility of ICT communication solutions for the elderly

population by developing the video-communication

system adapted to the abilities and habits of elderly

population based on their mind models. Special care

is taken also to design simple and intuitive user in-

terfaces on interactive IP TV platform, together with

advanced sensing devices, which provides simple and

efﬁcient usage of the system.

Extensive testings including more than one hun-

dred of end users are planned for the developed

MindGym platform. It is necessary condition for ef-

fective utilization (for independent living and social

integration) of ICT for elderly. The testing will in-

clude at least the following elements: adapted user in-

terfacing, specially designed communication scenario

regarding ﬁrst and secondary users and regular train-

ing of all involved.

Furthermore, the MindGym concept intends to in-

crease user ability, notably of persons with disabili-

ties, to carry out daily life activities and to interact

with ICT, given the fact that the proposed ICT system

together with communication scenarios will signiﬁ-

cantly improve independent living and social integra-

tion of a large subgroup of elderly and disabled peo-

ple by allowing them living in their preferred home

environment. Through the use of communication in-

frastructure they will be able to instantly contact their

carers or supporting persons in case of any obsta-

cle preventing normal daily routines. The ICT based

communication does not replace only live communi-

cation; it enhances the feasible intensity of communi-

cation according to elderly people wishes and needs.

Therefore, the MindGym concept extends the inde-

pendent living of its users.

One of the most important objectives is also

achieving improved competitiveness of Europe’s

mainstream ICT industry, including appropriate stan-

dardisation. Thus, MindGym aims towards carrying

out a series of user testing activities, which result in

a thorough evaluation of the concept and the actual

system. The evaluations of the user response pro-

vide a set of guidelines on implementation and design

of large-scale supporting systems for elderly popu-

lation. These guidelines are a valuable result of the

MindGym concept and input to the actual elderly care

organisations, helping them to develop and implement

similar ICT-based supporting systems. It allows the

ICT industry to participate in the elderly support pro-

grams on the national and international level, and to

develop a new competitive market for software and

hardware solutions for elderly care and support. In

order to support this goal, MindGym system aims

at standardisation of the procedures, system compo-

nents, software interfaces, and interaction technolo-

gies. The results provide an input to standardisation

of protocols and services, allowing interoperability of

conforming products from competing vendors.

Furthermore, higher levels of user empowerment

and richer social interactions through personalised

web-based assistive and social computing solutions

are designed within the MindGym system, by the sys-

tem’s many features of today’s social networking, al-

lowing instant communication within closed groups

of people. The user interface will be personalised to

the habits and abilities of the individual person.

The planned development of the MindGym sys-

tem is based on guidelines of system’s design and

functionalities, and provides an evaluation of the us-

ability of the system. From the beginning, the require-

ments and limitations of elderly persons are consid-

ered to provide much more usable solution compared

to standard devices which are intended for general

population (remote controls, mobile phones, video

phones, web portals etc.). This approach gives them

the power and control to maintain richer social inter-

actions with their friends, relatives and carers.

Based on standardised interfaces, the core of the

MindGym system can be extended by a range of hard-

ware add-ons, sensors and software modules provided

by third party providers. These sensors add spe-

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cialised functions, like monitoring vital biometrical

parameters (ECG, heart rate, fall sensors, blood sugar

monitoring), physical activity, coaching etc. The pro-

posal opens a new market for specialised channel

production dedicated to a group of elderly people.

These channels can be supported by content recom-

mender systems, helping them to produce attractive

channels for the dedicated target groups. The result

are programs optimised to stimulate brain activities

at a convenience of a linear broadcast program. In-

teractive services can complement the main content

delivery channel. In addition, monitoring brain activ-

ity by means of fMRI and EEG signals, while watch-

ing movies, encourages content producers to develop

more stimulating productions. Understanding these

processes may lead to a more challenging content pro-

duction, which would not only stimulate cognition

among users but also make the production more at-

tractive to the consumers.

Development of the MindGym system arises new

business opportunities, such as new market for third

party service, content and equipment providers. Med-

ical care in recent decades has signiﬁcantly extended

the life expectancy of people, but also a probability of

developing age-related medical conditions. Dementia

not only prevents people from living an independent

life, but also requires uninterrupted/permanent super-

vision. These conditions not only put an enormous

burden on the relatives, despite the efforts usually call

for an institutionalised care. The inﬂuence on ac-

tive population responsible for these conditions and

also the required social and medical assistance can

severely be reduced, by keeping the elderly in good

intellectual shape for as long as possible. This results

in increased productivity of active population and at

the same time cost reduction for social and medical

services to the entire society.

Finally, MindGym reduces overall costs for the

society. Since a great majority of aged people have

different chronic health conditions, mostly of multiple

nature, the MindGym concept offers a development

of a new kind of public health interventions from pre-

ventive, educative and therapeutic point of view. Next

to all positive consequences of brain training and sup-

port of intellectual condition, the users can be offered

avoidance of most important risk factors, regular and

proper usage of drugs, regular self-control of their

health status and physical exercise, thus improving

their health literacy and culture and positively inﬂu-

encing their behavioural patterns. Also, the number of

caregivers and doctors’ visits can be reduced, health

problems and falls timely detected, periods of institu-

tional treatments shortened and their effectiveness in-

creased. Also health expenses can be reduced by sav-

ings via reduced drugs usage, drug interactions, visits

at doctors and hospitalisations. Health and social pol-

itics will gather more objective data, which can be of

great use and importance in creating strategic plan-

ning and decisions in social and health governance.

3.3 Identiﬁcation of Success Parameters

MindGym concept aims at different groups of end-

users and the success criteria must encompass vari-

ous aspects. In case of the elderly people, the criteria

is mostly based on how many of the elderly partici-

pants will continue to use the application after the ini-

tial prototype presentation. Collection of this kind of

feedback can be realised via interviews and question-

naires measuring various aspects of social integration

of end users. A longitudinal comparative study in-

volving experimental and control group of end users

will provide basic information to measure the below

listed success parameters.

Volunteers are also planned to be monitored for

their use of the video-conferencing system and their

direct user feedback. Another indicator is to monitor

how many of them stay for a longer period of time

when compared to the control group (thus addressing

the problem of de-motivation without proper commu-

nication and experience sharing amongst them). The

same analysis can be applied for ﬁrst level users.

The effects of using new technology and

MindGym concept in the groups will be discernible

from the comparison of communication in the group

before and after the introduction of new technol-

ogy. Additional comparisons can be made with other

groups that will not be involved in the pilot applica-

tion.

Different stages of MindGym system develop-

ment are evaluated based on the following success cri-

teria: Creating the appropriate hardware to offer the

video-conference service to the primary level users;

Establishing a control and test group of sufﬁcient

size for statistical testing of future results, consider-

ing various socio-economic factors, attitude and back-

grounds, Implementing the pilot service in more than

one country, considering various stages of country de-

velopment and size, Gathering user feedback via var-

ious mechanisms (tracking device activity, direct user

feedback etc.), Qualitative and quantitative (statisti-

cal) evaluation of results, Improving the pilot service

based on provided feedback, and The developed ser-

vice is successfully promoted on various public events

(workshops, promotion events etc.).

An exact measure of some of the above list crite-

ria is deﬁned in terms of statistical based qualitative

comparative analysis.

MindGymStrategiesforElderlyPeople

323

It is also very important to mention that the

MindGym system uses inexpensive appropriate tech-

nology to reach the objectives, based on interactive

TV and cloud enabled devices, offering satisfactory

level of inexpensive devices and their interaction.

Mainly, MindGym system is intended only for

those interested and capable of working with com-

puters. All necessary equipment and gadgets are not

cheap and there is a danger, that only users who are

well off will be able to afford the necessary and com-

plete infrastructure. Therefore, a careful design is

planned to activities that will not increase the social

gap and health inequalities, i.e. there will be a solu-

tion for users from the lower part of social scale. The

psychologically altered individuals are excluded from

its usage as well.

Finally, since the MindGym system establishes a

network of virtual users, it develops distant relation-

ships without personal and physical contact. From the

social and human point of view periodical opportuni-

ties for personal meetings, discussions and eye con-

tacts are welcomed. It would give the system an ad-

ditional human value, which is normally more or less

neglected by technical and instrumental educated ex-

perts. This will be also addressed in the methodology

for content creation and in sustainability and exploita-

tion strategy.

4 CONCLUSIONS

This paper presents strategies for realisation of the

MindGym concept and development of a relevant sys-

tem aimed to increase the quality of life. The overall

idea is based on provision of mind exercises including

interactive TV and personalised ICT support.

The strategies concern three dimensions: provi-

sion of necessary hardware, development of software

that integrates the services in a unique solution and

realisation of a methodology for provision of mind

stimulating content. Both business and technology

concepts are considered in the overall design of the

MindGym system.

The overall beneﬁt is not just in provision of

a corresponding interactive hardware, integrated in

an IPTV or related technology solution with addi-

tion of cloud-enabled devices, and in an integrated

SaaS solution, but also in developing a corresponding

methodology to develop a content that realises mind

stimulation. We plan to realise a speciﬁc research as a

future work aiming to develop recommendations for

realisation of appropriate content that will keep active

the brain and enable conditions for prolongation of

life expectancy and increasing the quality of life.

Adding the plug-in devices and medical sensors

to the core MindGym system provides an environ-

ment for personalised self-care systems. The abil-

ity to measure some essential health related parame-

ters integrated with various health-related services for

provision of corresponding medical expertise is basis

of a personalised self-care system that will have a lot

of beneﬁts and cost reduce.

Planned testing of the developed MindGym sys-

tem, as a part of future activities, assumes that the sys-

tem needs to be tested with users from various socio-

economic groups, and belonging to different coun-

tries with corresponding levels of development, in-

cluding various educational background, cultural and

religious attitudes, etc.

The MindGym concept and presented strategies

need to be evaluated for its applicability, usability and

user satisfaction, along with identiﬁed success param-

eters. Relevant indicators are basis of a correspond-

ing performance and functional analysis. In this paper

we have identiﬁed a huge impact by increased brain

activity with mind stimulating content delivered by

the MindGym interactive environment, including im-

proved mental health of elderly, and independent liv-

ing.

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