Intelligent Assistive Technologies for Dementia

The financial burden and the level of specialized care required to look after older adults with dementia has reached the point of a public health crisis. Older adults diagnosed and living with the disorder reached 35.6 million worldwide in 2010 and is expected to increase to 135.5 million in 2050, with costs soaring to $1.1 trillion.In the face of the increasing burden this disorder poses to health care systems and the management of this patient population, intelligent assistive technologies (IATs) represent a remarkable and promising strategy to meet the need of persons suffering from dementia. These technologies aim at helping individuals compensate for specific physical and cognitive deficits, and maintain a higher level of independence at home and in everyday activities. However, the rapid development and widespread implementation of these technologies are not without associated challenges at multiple levels.An international and multidisciplinary group of authors provide future-oriented and in-depth analysis of IATs. Part I delineates the current landscape of intelligent assistive technologies for dementia care and age-related disability from a global perspective, while the contributions in Part II analyze and address the major psycho-social implications linked to the development and clinical use of IATs. In the last section, essays examine the major ethical, social and regulatory issues associated with the use of IATs in dementia care. This volume provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of how IATs are reshaping dementia care.

1. IntroductionFabrice Jotterand, Marcello Ienca, Tenzin Wangmo and Bernice S. ElgerPART I: CURRENT LANDSCAPE2. Dementia in an Ageing WorldThomas Fritze, Anne Fink and Gabriele Doblhammer3. Dementia and Neurocognitive DisabilityChristophe J. Büla4. Can Robots, Apps and Other Technologies Meet the Future Global Demands of Dementia?Arlene Astell5. Augmented Reality-Assisted Dementia CareMengyu Y. Zhao, Soh K. Ong, and Andrew Y.C. NeePART II: PSYCHO-SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS6. Caring for Older Adults with Dementia: The Potential of Assisted Technology in Reducing Caregiving BurdenTenzin Wangmo7. The Predestined Nature of Assistive Technologies for DementiaTaro Sugihara, Tsutomu Fujinami and Osamu Moriyama8. Shaping the Development and Use of Intelligent Assistive Technologies in Dementia: Some ThoughtsElisabeth HildtPART III: ETHICAL AND REGULATORY CHALLENGES9. Ethical Concerns About the Use of Assistive Technologies: How to Balance Beneficence, and Respect for Autonomy in the Care of Dementia Patients?Bernice S. Elger10. Issues of Informed Consent from Persons with Dementia When Employing Assistive TechnologiesPeter Novitzky, Cynthia Chen, Alan F. Smeaton, Renaat Verbruggen and Bert Gordijn11. Personal Identity, Neuroprosthetics, and Alzheimer's DiseaseFabrice Jotterand12. Developing Assistive Technologies for Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Their Carers: The Ethics of Doing Good, Not HarmDiane Mahoney13. Privacy and Security Issues in Intelligent Assistive Technologies for Dementia: The Case of Ambient Assisted Living, Wearables and Service RoboticsMarcello Ienca and Eduard Fosch Villaronga14. Developing Ethical Web- and Mobile-Based Technologies for Dementia: Challenges and OpportunitiesJulie Robillard and Tanya E. Feng15. Dementia and the Regulation of GerontechnologyJames Beauregard16. Epilogue: Dementia in the Digital AgeMarcello Ienca and Tenzin Wangmo