Garcia-Constantino M, Orr C, Synnott J, Shewell C, Ennis A, Cleland I, Nugent C, Rafferty J, Morrison G, Larkham L, McIlroy S and Selby A (2021) Design and implementation of a smart home in a box to monitor the wellbeing of residents with dementia in care homes. Front. Digit. Health 3:798889. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2021.798889
Sensor technology is a potential cost-effective option for caregivers of people with dementia as a method to monitor activity and detect abnormal behavior. Researchers investigated the challenges with design and deployment of a Smart Home In a Box (SHIB) approach to monitor the wellbeing of people with dementia in a care home. Researchers describe and evaluate a SHIB approach created by the Pervasive Computing Research Center (PCRC) at Ulster University. The PCRC SHIB has 4 types of sensors: thermal vision, contact, Passive Infrared, and audio. The SHIB has a small computer that processes and shares the data from sensors to a data platform and an Android tablet with an app. The researchers made short instructional videos about installation and how to use the SHIB. A case study was conducted to evaluate implementation of SHIB in a care home over the course of 6 months. The SHIB was installed in a care home in Belfast and the sensors were installed in the rooms of three persons with dementia. The study encountered issues with interrupted communication and incomplete transmission of the sensor data. Researchers found that most care home facilities do not have the infrastructure for installing sensors and installation of sensors should be adapted to specific care homes. Implementation findings informed recommendations for future implementations of SHIB.