Final results of the NINFA project: impact of new technologies in the daily life of elderly people.

BACKGROUND: The paper presents the work carried out within NINFA (iNtelligent Integrated Network For Aged people), a project for the wellbeing of the elderly people at home. AIMS: The impact of new technologies on elderly people is evaluated with respect to the three main topics faced by NINFA. METHODS: NINFA was structured into three main topics: (1) active user engagement from the very beginning of the planning stage: the use of specially designed questionnaires to evaluate the acceptability of new technology in general and robot caregiver specifically; (2) assessment of the well-being through non-invasive techniques: natural language processing for language change monitoring in elderly subjects; (3) automated assessment of motor and cognitive functions at home: systems to deliver tests and exergames through user interfaces compliant with elderly subjects. RESULTS: The analysis shows that there is no a priori closure to support the technology, but it must not be invasive and must allow social interactions. The study of speech transcripts shows that a large variations in the number of words used to describe the same situation could be a sign on the onset of cognitive impairments. The specifically designed systems highlight, after the training period, significant improvements in the performances of the participants and a satisfaction with regards to the systems usability. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes of NINFA project highlight some important aspects of the relationship between elderly people and new technologies concerning: engagement and acceptability, assessment of the wellbeing and of the modifications of motor, cognitive and language functions.

Mass media health information: quantitative and qualitative analysis of daily press coverage and its relation with public perceptions.

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the methods followed by the Pisa University OCS for collecting, storing and analyzing all health-related articles and database contents. Moreover, an example population survey on the topic of food safety based on such analysis is shown. METHODS: Articles published each day since 1999 in Italy's three most popular newspapers are collected and stored in a Data Base Text; on these articles quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. On the basis of these results as well as of epidemiological data, a questionnaire survey was carried out about sources of information, knowledge and risk perception of citizens regarding food safety. RESULTS: On a total of 24,434 articles on all health topics, 18% regarded food related hazards: their evolution over time showed peaks on BSE, avian flu and dioxin. A large proportion of the people surveyed declared having changed their food habits, at least temporarily, as a consequence of media information. Most get their information on food safety mainly from television. Most respondents remembered having previously heard news on BSE, avian flu and dioxin, but did not recall having heard of listeriosis, brucellosis or typhoid fever. CONCLUSIONS: Newspapers articles facing food related hazards tend to be alarming thus affecting the citizens risk perception. On the other hand people often ignore how to manage their own food safety in a practical way. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Analysis of media messages can help to evaluate and correct the negative effects that may result in wrong information.