Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Using Living Labs To Explore Needs And Solutions For Older Adults With Dementia: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
A number of living labs (LLs) have established a new approach to studying the health, independent living, and well-being of older adults with dementia. LLs interact with a broad set of stakeholders, including students, academic institutions, private companies, healthcare organizations, and patient representative bodies—even with other LLs. Identifying what kinds of co-creations should be attempted and how they can be facilitated through LLs is crucial.
Objective:
Scope publications examining all types of LL activities exploring the needs and expectations of older adults with dementia and seeking solutions, whether they live in the community or long-term healthcare facilities (LTHFs).
Methods:
A scoping review was conducted based on the PRISMA recommendations for the Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Six bibliographic databases were searched for publications up to March 2020, and a forward–backward citation chasing was performed. Additional searches were conducted in Google Scholar. The papers selected were assessed for their quality.
Results:
Of 5,609 articles identified, 58 were read in their entirety, and 12 were retained for inclusion and final analysis. All 12 presented an innovative product, developed in four main LLs, to assist older adults with cognitive and neurocognitive disorders living in the community or LTHFs. Their goals were optimizing the health, quality of life, independent living, home care, and safety of older adults with cognitive and neurocognitive disorders, as well as supporting professional and family caregivers or reducing their burdens. The studies’ overall methodological quality was poor to moderate.
Conclusions:
This scoping review identified a number of LLs playing a pivotal role in research aimed at older adults with dementia living in the community or LTHFs. However, it also revealed that LLs should carry out more, better-quality interventional research to prove the effectiveness of their technological products or service solutions.
Citation
