Wearable Physical Activity Tracking Systems for Older Adults—A Systematic Review

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) positively impacts the quality of life of older adults, with technology as a promising factor in maintaining motivation. Within Computer Science and Engineering, research investigates how to track PA of older adults for various purposes. We present a systematic review of 204 papers and discuss wearable tracking systems according to their purpose, technological context, and target audience, as well as design and evaluation processes with particular attention to the meaningful involvement of older adults. Our results show that most systems focus on supervising older adults in the context of disease and frailty management. Only few systems focus on supporting older adults by promoting rehabilitation and respecting agency of older adults via self-monitoring PA, or encouraging PA to maintain healthy levels of activity. Moreover, systems are often narrowly limited to walking, although older adults may enjoy a broader range of activities. Likewise, the involvement of older adults in design processes is scarce, and their experience with a given technology is rarely considered relevant for evaluation. In sum, we contribute an overview of wearable technology for tracking older adults’ PA, contextualize our findings within recommendations provided by Sports and Rehabilitation Science, and illustrate opportunities for future work.

Towards Human Stress and Activity Recognition: A Review and a First Approach Based on Low-Cost Wearables

“…Attention has focused especially on the benefits that these devices have on people's health [1]. Several studies have demonstrated its efficacy in controlling people's weight [2], creating adherence to physical activity (PA) [3][4][5], regulating the intensity of PA; especially for those who have suffered from heart failure [6], assessing rehabilitation exercises [7,8], reducing sedentary behavior (SB) [9] for the elderly [10,11], etc.…”

MyMove: Facilitating Older Adults to Collect In-Situ Activity Labels on a Smartwatch with Speech

“…Another relevant topic to our work is Human Activity Recognition (HAR), an automated process of relating sensor stream time segments with various human activities (e.g., walking, running, sleeping, eating) [63]. HAR has been extensively applied to a wide range of technologies, from broader consumer fitness trackers to specialized tracking systems for older adults in capturing physical activities and ADLs or detecting falling or frailty [34,121,122]. The quality of an HAR model depends on how sensor data (i.e., input) were collected [63]; models trained with the sensor data captured in the lab tend to yield less accuracy when tested outside [31].…”

“…Activity tracking technologies can provide meaningful feedback that supports people's motivations, playing an important role in enhancing physical activity [32,80,122]. Like individuals in many age groups, physical activity is important for older adults, favorably influencing their healthy daily routine [27] and active life expectancy [20], chronic health conditions including coronary heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes [127], psychological health and wellbeing [20], enjoyment [92,93], and social wellbeing [6].…”

Bridging Community, History, and Culture in Personal Informatics Tools

“…Caldeira and Chen, for example, highlight six existing barriers to seniors' adoption of tracking technologies found in literature [3]. These include, among others, misaligned tracking needs with younger adults [62] for whom these tools are often designed [75]. For example, Caldeira and Chen summarize that compared to younger adults, older adults often focus more on chronic illness management [44], have different attitudes toward tracking technologies [57], and feel their design needs are not considered [69,75].…”

“…These include, among others, misaligned tracking needs with younger adults [62] for whom these tools are often designed [75]. For example, Caldeira and Chen summarize that compared to younger adults, older adults often focus more on chronic illness management [44], have different attitudes toward tracking technologies [57], and feel their design needs are not considered [69,75]. One suggestion made by participants is to include a training component to help users who want to engage with technology to do so.…”