Personalized Persuasion for Social Interactions in Nursing Homes

Abstract

This paper presents our preliminary investigation and approach towards a mixed physical-virtual technology for stimulating social interactions among and with older adults in nursing homes. We report on set of surveys, apps and focus groups aiming at understanding the different motivations and obstacles in promoting social interactions in institutionalised care. We then present our approach to address some of the key themes found, e.g., the technological disparity, lack of conversation topics and opportunities to interact.

What Makes People Bond?: A Study on Social Interactions and Common Life Points on Facebook

“…In our previous work [8] we reported on the results from surveys and visits to nursing homes. We identified that i) friendships in nursing homes are difficult, especially in the transition period, and that ii) contact is rather infrequent between older adults and their relatives, especially younger adults, often due to the lack of common topics of conversation and the lack of time.…”