Most of our research is designed to help older adults and their families make decisions and choices about topics that impact quality of life as we grow older — choices like which products and services can help older adults live independently for longer, and delay the time at which growing older gets in the way of living life to the full.
In addition, some of our work is designed to help innovators develop products and services that older adults like us will actually want and find useful.
Recent Analysis and Exploration
Medication Management Systems: Which?
“Good” medication management is widely believed to be desirable, by older adults as well as by clinicians. This article is about what factors make medication management systems useful for a given person, and outlines a series of circumstances for which specific features of these products can be helpful. Think of this as a “how to get started” guide to the topic of medication management systems.
Products for Seniors: Could Do Better
After several years of product evaluations and unmet need explorations with groups of older adults, this is my most striking take-away. “While there is no shortage of problems for which older adults would like solutions, the vast majority of products we have looked at are either hard for elderly people to use, or do poorly the “job” our older adult demographic wants to get done”. This article is about why (in my opinion) this is the case, and about errors to avoid.
Games for Seniors: Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go is a new App (Game) has taken the world by storm. This article suggests it could be a great Game for Seniors, helping to encourage healthy exercise. The article (plus video) explains what Pokemon Go is, and how one plays it.
Older Adult Perspectives on Managing Medications
Learn what older adults themselves think about the challenges of medication management. Listen to discussions about the things our explorers care about; how they approach managing their medications; which products they prefer (the best pill organizers, and most successful pill reminder techniques); and what problems they face.
Sensors, Dementia, Safety: Real World Experiences
Using a handful of simple, non-intrusive sensors, retired engineer Bob Glicksman has been able to learn all sorts of important things about the daily routine of an elderly person, who has cognitive impairment, and for whom he cares. He has been able to make multiple successful interventions to stave off what might have otherwise been serious adverse events. In fact, this simple sensor setup has worked better than he expected, and he shares his experiences, as an example of a real world use case in which a small addition of technology can accomplish a lot.
Cohousing: The Power of Community
Cohousing: The power of community. Thoughts from a cohousing pioneer.
Best Pill Reminder App: Explorer Choice
We set out to pick the best pill reminder app to share with the explorers in our Useful Apps Club. This article describes which features we selected as important and why; summarizes the results of our tests; and shares with you some details about the two Medication Apps we want to recommend, each of which is good for a slightly different life situation.
Pill Reminder Apps we Ruled Out
List of pill reminder apps we evaluated and ruled out as either being too simplistic, or lacking in an important functionality.
Medical Alert Reviews
Individual medical alert reviews, including our independent, objective hands on comparison evaluations.
How to Use the Medisafe App
This Useful Apps Club lesson shows you how to setup and use the Medisafe App to take your medication on time, and more.
Dosecast Medication App
CareZone Medication App
Medisafe Medication Reminder
Longevity Explorers Roll up their Sleeves
In our first 24 months, our 5 circles of older adults (Longevity Explorers) had more than 100 face-to-face circle meetings at which together we explored unmet needs related to growing older; tried out, critiqued and compared various interesting products; and engaged in brainstorming and ideation for new and better products to help improve the quality of life as we age.
Best Medical Alert App: Bake-off
We set out to find the best medical alert app for our Longevity Explorers who wanted to use their smartphone as a medical alert system. We focused on monitored medical alerts, found only three that looked promising enough to test, and did extensive, hands-on, comparison testing. One App emerged as far superior to the others.
Driving, Ride-Hailing, & Transportation Apps
“Getting Around” is the first theme we are exploring in our “Useful Apps for Older Adults” initiative. Being free to get from one place to another when you want is a very important ingredient of an independent life. Here are Driving Apps, Ride-hailing Apps, and Transportation Apps that can make that easier and more convenient.
Getting In and Out of Cars: Gadgets that Help
Our explorers have been trying out various gadgets that let them get in and out of cars more easily. So far we have focused on two types of products. The first is a swivel car seat, and the second is a sort of extra “car handle for the elderly”.
Personas
Below are several different older adult “personas”, we use to decide which specific medical alert device to recommend for a given older adult. These correspond to broad “types of life circumstances”, and work well for other types of products too.
Technology for Managing Medication in Dementia
Watch this talk on technology for medication management by Dr Caro and Dr Renfro. It covers different available technologies to help minimize medication errors, especially for Alzheimer’s sufferers. It also covers some “unmet needs and opportunities” relating to medication adherence.
Where & How We Want to Live
Where and how we want to live as we age has been the subject of quite a few of our Longevity Explorer discussions, especially in those circles made up of Boomers. We Boomers wonder: should we move, and to which type of living situation? Listen to the audio of real people discussing these topics.