CATCH “Showcase of Future Healthcare” event draws the crowds

CATCH set up their living room of the future in the Winter Garden, Sheffield last Saturday to showcase to the general public what the future of healthcare might look like.

Part of the Sheffield Festival of Science and Engineering and co-organised with the Public Engagement team at the University of Sheffield, the event attracted more than 1,000 people throughout the day.

Seven CATCH collaborators (see logos below) joined the event with exhibition stands demonstrating healthcare technologies. Partners Sheffield Robotics and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences were also in attendance Children were given the opportunity to learn about future technology by visiting each partner, experiencing the technology first hand and getting answers to six questions. 100 children took part. 

Pepper robot, the latest recruit to the CATCH team was a big pull for children and adults alike who were impressed by the humanoid’s range of movement and interaction skills. Other technology on display on the day included Emego, an EMG switch which senses muscle activity as well as CIRCA, an interactive reminiscence and conversation aid.

Fresh from the great success of his Inaugural Lecture the previous night, Professor Luc de Witte addressed the audience for two pop-up talks about the role of technology in future healthcare.

It was great to have the opportunity to meet so many people interested in our technology and share how CATCH is working to help people to live well and age well.

We’d like to take this opportunity to say a special thanks to the Public Engagement team at the University, notably Nicola Strafford, Public Engagement Manager for her great work in helping us to make this event a huge success.

If you would like to find out more about CATCH’s exciting research and future events, please contact Laura Murray.

Technology: who cares?! events - less than three weeks away!

Technology: who cares?! Two exciting events from CATCH, taking place as part of the Sheffield Festival of Science & Engineering, are less than three weeks away.

We're excited to introduce our event collaborators - download the poster here.

Join us at 5.15pm on Friday 10th March for Professor Luc de Witte’s ScHARR Inaugural Lecture entitled “Technology, who cares?!” at the Diamond building, University of Sheffield. Booking is required - book your place here.

On Saturday 11th March from 10am - 3pm, bring all the family and visit us in the Sheffield Winter Garden to experience our "living room of the future" and meet our collaborators:

• Alzheimer's Society

• GSPK Design

• Barnsley Hospital

• Devices for Dignity

• Lab4Living

• NIHR CLAHRC Yorkshire and Humber

• Sheffcare

For more information about this event, visit the #SFOSE website or contact Laura Murray. No booking required.

Please share this news story with your networks and print the poster for display on your notice boards. Thanks!

26th Alzheimer Europe Conference: Becky Field (Researcher, PhD student and Occupational Therapist) attends and gives presentation

Becky & Jacki

I attended the 26^th Alzheimer Europe Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark (31 October–2 November 2016) http://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Conferences/2016-Copenhagen

The theme of the conference was “excellence in dementia research and care”. It was great to learn about research and service developments across Europe.

Personal highlights from the conference were

-   Hearing from people living with dementia and their caregivers, reminding us what an important contribution they can and do make to research and services.  

- Learning about the work going on in Scotland to develop and deliver post diagnostic support services; great to hear about how it happens, and that post diagnostic support is offered to everyone with a diagnosis of dementia; also to hear about Allied Health Professional roles in dementia services.

http://Alzscot.org                    http://alzscot.org/talking-dementia

The presentation I gave was called ‘Psychosocial Interventions: identifying influences on take up’. This was based on interviews carried out with people living with dementia and their family carers about experiences of participating in a community occupational therapy intervention (as part of the ‘Valuing Active Life in Dementia (VALID)’ research study). As part of my PhD research I am trying to identify influences on why people may or may not accept offers of psychosocial interventions and feel ready to engage in them. This is because government policy now recommends post-diagnostic support and psychosocial interventions, and there is a growing evidence to support the benefits of these interventions. Yet, there is little research about what may help or prevent people from engaging in such interventions to inform development of post diagnostic services.  I hope my doctoral research can contribute to these developments.

As part of the conference I also attended the Interdem Academy Master class: ‘Involving people with dementia as advisors to your research’. http://interdem.org/?page_id=4636

Funder: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research: Grant number: RP-PG 0610-10108

The ‘Valuing Active Life in Dementia’ is evaluating the effectiveness of a community occupational therapy intervention for people with mild to moderate dementia living in the community and their family carers. If you would like more information about this study please see https://www.ucl.ac.uk/valid

If you would like more information about my doctoral research please do get in touch b.field@sheffield.ac.uk

AcTo Dementia at the UK Dementia Congress 2016

Researchers Phil Joddrell and Professor Arlene Astell from CATCH attended the UK Dementia Congress in Brighton last week. Phil presented his PhD project, AcTo Dementia, in a session on technology and the arts in dementia care, whilst Arlene discussed this project, as well as other work from her career, in the plenary Tom Kitwood Memorial Address, titled ‘Innovating in long-term care: the triumphs and challenges of trying to change practice’. Arlene also contributed as a panel member for the opening debate, ‘Should we welcome a future of robots, avatars and digital technology in dementia care?’, and presented a workshop on Adaptive Interaction.

This was the 11^th UK Dementia Congress which is an annual event organised by the Journal of Dementia Care, and incorporates the National Dementia Care Awards supported by the Alzheimer’s Society.

Written by Phil Joddreell

New open-access publication from the AcTo Dementia project

CATCH researchers working on the AcTo Dementia project have recently published a review article in JMIR Rehabilitation and AssistiveTechnologies. This article, authored by Phil Joddrell and Professor Arlene Astell, is open-access meaning that it is free to read online or download. The review focuses on studies that have involved people living with dementia using touchscreen technologies, such as smartphones and tablets. A total of 45 articles were included in this review, published between 1986 and 2015, demonstrating that touchscreen technology has been in use long before the dawn of iPhones and iPads. The article concluded that people with dementia are able to use touchscreens, that the majority of research to date has focused on using the technology to deliver assessments or provide an assistive function, and that there is unrealised potential to use touchscreen devices to deliver independent activities for meaningful occupation, entertainment, and fun.

Joddrell P, Astell AJ

Studies Involving People With Dementia and Touchscreen Technology: A Literature Review

JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol 2016;3(2):e10

DOI: 10.2196/rehab.5788