We study the design, implementation and use of digital technologies (hardware and software) to deliver personalised assistance, customised healthcare needs and disease specific services for older adults. This includes working with the local government and aged care service providers in co-design projects to develop, test and deploy apps that support community dwelling older adults to continue living in their local neighbourhoods. The significance of our research in this area lies in the benefits of providing mobile digital platforms which can be ‘tailored-to- suit’ the delivery of person-centric apps that inform and empower older adults to remain engaged in their local communities. 

Current/recent projects

Flinders Assistant for Memory Enhancement (FAME) Study

This study is part of the project titled ‘Ageing in Place - Assistance through Personalised Online Technology for older people with memory loss associated with early stage dementia’. The study will examine the feasibility of delivering non-pharmacological intervention using a simple, intuitive tablet-based application for use by community-dwelling older adults living with mild cognitive impairment or early stage dementia. This contributes to the South Australian Government’s ‘Ageing well’ and the Commonwealth’s ‘ageing-in-place’ agenda.          

Phase II - newsletter

• Issue #4 (PDF) September 2019
  

Phase I (completed) - newsletter

• Issue #1 (PDF) May 2018   
• Issue #2 (PDF) August 2018
• Issue #3 (PDF) November 2018

Project of Dementia Friendly Community

The aim of this study is to gather information that would inform the council on the needs of people living with dementia to enable the development of sustainable and inclusive environments, which would support them to live well in the community. This is a joint initiative between City of Holdfast Bay council and Flinders Digital Health Research Centre.  

For further information about Digital Health Supporting Our Ageing Society research, please contact Dr Lua Perimal-Lewis@flinders.edu.au or 08 8201 2069

Computer-based behaviour change intervention; lifestyle logging and monitoring for healthy living; social media and web tools for healthy communities (including mHealth)

Ecological models emphasize the importance of context in understanding wellness and health. This strategic focus area covers physical and mental wellness in context. Understanding context requires a multilevel approach which starts with individuals but also considers the physical, cultural, political factors that impact on individual wellness including interpersonal (e.g. social networks, workplace, clinical) , local environment (e.g. buildings, neighbourhood), regional and national policy (e.g. OHS, urban planning). The significance of digital health research on wellness is the holistic approach which draws on sources of digital information available in the broader environment to better understand personal constraints and opportunities presented by the local environment which in turn can better inform behaviour change programs.

Current/recent projects

Workplace wellness (2016-2017)

Physical activity monitoring (2017-2018)

View further information about the above projects.

Devices for patient health condition data collection (IoT, sensors, wearables); standards for health data and health systems conformance and interoperability; Health Smart Living environments

This focus area covers the Internet of Things, embedded sensors and smart environments, wearables, communications, and cybersecurity. It also encompasses software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, dataflow processes, and data and software standards, with deliberate attention to the impact of these technologies to patient safety. The significance of our research in this focus area lies in improving safety, security and resilience in the emerging distributed health technology domain. With an increasing number of data sources there is a need to provide integrated and secure platforms for data exchange, interoperability and communication, as well as understanding the potential effect of technology on individuals and the healthcare system.

Current/recent projects

Safe Wi-Fi for the hospital environment (Cisco)

Infrastructure maturity assessment for digital hospitals (Cisco) 

Electronic medication management (Telstra Health)

Interoperability and security in the Health Internet of Things (Cisco Chair) 

App labelling for security and privacy (Cisco Chair)

Security of devices on medical IT networks (ISO)

Security metrics, cascading failure and resilience (Cisco Chair) 

Improving safety and quality of health care, supporting health service delivery and health data analysis for cancer, cardiac, mental health, rehabilitation.

This focus area covers the use of digital health data for direct clinical purposes, usually associated with a specific disease or cohort. This includes data management, analysis of EHRs or other health datasets, and longitudinal health condition modelling.  The significance of our research in this focus area lies in the benefits of having better data to inform clinical decision making, overcoming the limitations of conventional care-episode based health records. By broadening the types of data considered, and including data which provides personalised information about individuals, more value can be obtained when applying pattern recognition and cohort characterization techniques than “one-size-fits-all” outcomes.

Current/recent projects

Health data integration for evidence-based interventions (ARC ITRP) 

Actionable Intime Insights mental health monitoring (D2D CRC) 

Cancer survivor data framework (CMPH) 

Improving cardiovascular risk prediction utilising machine learning algorithms