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Delivery of Home-Based Exercise Interventions in Older Adults Facilitated by Amazon Alexa: A 12-week Feasibility
P Jansons1, J Dalla Via, R M Daly
1Dr Paul Jansons, PhD, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia, Tel: + 61 402283624,
Objectives:
To evaluate the feasibility of using voice-controlled intelligent personal assistants (VIPAs) to remotely deliver and monitor an individually-tailored, home-based exercise program to older adults living independently and alone.
Design:
12-week, prospective single-arm feasibility study.
Setting:
Community residences.
Participants:
15 adults aged 60 to 89 years living alone.
Intervention:
All participants were prescribed home-based muscle strengthening, weight-bearing impact and balance exercises, increasing from two to four 10-minute sessions per day over 12 weeks. Sessions were delivered using VIPAs (Amazon Alexa Echo Show 5; "Alexa") and a novel software program ("Buddy Link"). The program was individualized by an exercise physiologist based on participant voice responses to Alexa questions.
Measurements:
Study outcomes were feasibility (rate of retention, adherence, and adverse events), usability (System Usability Scale) and changes to quality of life (European Quality of Life Scale), and lower-extremity function (30 second sit-to-stand test).
Results:
All 15 participants (mean age, 70.3 years) completed the study (retention 100%). Mean adherence to the exercise program was 115% (i.e., collectively all participants were prescribed 8640 exercises but completed 9944 exercises) with no adverse events reported to be related to the intervention and usability scored as above average (75/100). Other outcomes did not significantly change across the 12-week follow-up (all P>0.05).
Conclusions:
In this feasibility study of community-dwelling older adults living alone, a home-based exercise program delivered and monitored remotely by an exercise physiologist using VIPAs was safe and feasible.
