Detecting the Impact of Older Adult Healthy Brain Aging Behaviour Adoption Using Smart Home Technology

Adopting healthy brain behaviours may enhance and sustain cognitive health for older adults at risk of cognitive decline. Because relying on laboratory measures or self-report to assess the impact of a behaviour change is prone to error, we introduce a method to monitor, quantify, and describe behaviour change using smart homes. In this paper, we describe the application of this method to analyse behaviour change for n=14 older adults receiving a six-week healthy brain behaviour program consisting of personalized education, selection, and monitoring of new, sustainable healthy brain aging behaviours. A CASAS Smart Home in a Box (CASAS ShiB) is installed in each participant's home and data are collected continuously at baseline and during the program. Using our Behaviour Change Detection (BCD) algorithm, we quantify weekly changes in behaviour at baseline and each program week. Across the study population, results show that behaviour change from baseline to the end of program represents a 23.22% increase in change within the four-week baseline. We employ a virtual classifier to analyze the type of changes that are observed and assess them in comparison with self-reported goal adherence. The results indicate that smart home technologies combined with data mining techniques provide a method to monitor and support behaviour change goals in everyday life.