Building a personal home telehealth system based on social networking

• Main Authors: Yu-Chen Huang, 黃于珍
• Other Authors: Yeh-Liang Hsu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/95q79q

博士 === 元智大學 === 機械工程學系 === 102 === Although useful vital sign monitoring equipment and information communication technologies are readily available, many researchers and businesses are still attempting to expand coverage, expectations for the widespread adoption of home telehealth services have not been realized in Taiwan. Current home telehealth systems are mostly centered on medical and healthcare needs, which can be called “professional systems”. Such systems generally focus on building connections between patients and doctors, and the business model relies on health insurance. Although useful vital sign monitoring equipment and information communication technologies are readily available, these “professional systems” are often found to be unsuccessful. Lack of intrinsic motivation of users to use such systems is also a major difficulty. This thesis proposes a paradigm shift in home telehealth systems, from the provision of health care to the interpersonal communication and social participation of the older adults. The home telehealth system model presented here is the consumer product oriented model, which not only focuses on the medical needs of older adult but also integrates with social networking to provide the motivation of communication between older adults and their family members. The long term wellness monitoring application as well as sleep and activities of daily living applications are demonstrated.