Development of an IoT-Based Health Promotion System for Seniors

• Main Authors: Chia-Hui Liu, Jih-Fu Tu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: elderly care; wireless sensor network; context awareness; health promotion
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8946

With a reducing fertility rate and the increase in life expectancy in Taiwan, the changing structure of the population has pushed Taiwan into an aged society. The demand for elderly care environments is rapidly increasing. However, to prevent an illness for the elderly is better than to treat it. Monitoring of an individual’s health is required as a periodic activity. Using wireless technology combined with physiological measurement techniques and home care equipment can assist elderly individuals to promote health and the health care service at home. In this research, a wireless sensor network has been adopted to develop context aware health promotion for an elderly-care system. The system is divided into three subsystems: the IoT-based physiological information subsystem, the context awareness-based service subsystem, and the elderly nutrition diet and health promotion subsystem. In this system, users also can select an Aging Diet Module or an Aging Exercise Module in our app. After the user selects the Aging Diet Module, the system will record and give suggestions. Moreover, the system can integrate long-term elderly diet and exercise records, and then, assist elderly to complete personal nutrition assessment and health management. The research goal is to construct a health promotion system utilizing IoT technology. In this paper, the system’s functions and implementation approaches are introduced.