We are proud to introduce our international collaboration with Heidelberg University, Germany. The Principal Investigators are Drs. Jürgen Bauer, Lorenzo Masia, Barbara Paech and Hans-Werner Wahl. The title for the project is “Smart Aging in Community Contexts: Testing Intelligent Assistive Systems for Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation Under Real-Life Conditions (SMART-AGE)”. The focus is on how tablet-based apps could benefit older adults’ quality of life in three domains: social participation enhancement; health awareness and maintenance; and physical fitness improvement.
The processes of digitalization and the use of smart devices now encompass all areas and ages of life. Digitalization is increasingly exerting impact on how we communicate and interact with one another, how we access information and do research, how we work and consume, and how we deal with our health. Digitalization has the potential to improve the quality of life (QoL) for people of all ages, but rigorous research is needed to make this goal against good evidence.
SMART-AGE project (2021 – 2026) will investigate to what extent and in what way older people can benefit from the use of tablet-based Apps that address basic QoL domains that most gerontologists would regard as critical:
1. App-regulated social participation enhancement
The respective App in SMART-AGE promotes social networking and social participation (smartVERNETZT). smartVERNETZT is the German version of the empirically confirmed Personal Reminder Information and Social Management System (PRISM) developed by the CREATE consortium. The App facilitates the structuring of daily activities, promotes the acquisition of new knowledge and provides effortless access to information on health topics, events and resources. Its overarching goal is to promote social networking, local integration and participation in digital and analog leisure activities.
2. App-regulated health awareness and maintenance
The respective App in SMART-AGE encourages awareness for one’s health as an aging person and provides health advice focusing on major areas of older adults’ health and functioning such as mobility and nutrition (smartIMPULS).
3. App-regulated physical fitness improvement
The respective App in SMART-AGE offers a safe and instructor-free training to improve bodily capacities, particularly motor capacities like muscle strength and balance (KOKU, “Keep On, Keep Up”).
In addition, a Feedback-App (smartFEEDBACK) aims to provide SMART-AGE with continuous feedback on App experiences over time.
According to its research design, SMART-AGE will empirically test the potentially and expected differential outcome based on a 3-study arms approach: two intervention arms as well as one active control group arm. Sampling goal is N = 720 across the three study arms. A tablet computer is given for free to each participant as an incentive. We will include community-dwelling adults aged 67 and older (current retirement age in Germany) with at least low to medium level of computer and internet proficiency. Observation period per intervention arm will be 6 months with three measurement occasions (baseline, 3 months, 6 months).
The SMART-AGE project is being conducted at the University of Heidelberg in cooperation with the University hospitals of Heidelberg and Mannheim and with the universities of Mannheim, Tübingen, Frankfurt, Mainz, and the Fernuniversität Hagen. Please see https://smart-age.psychologie.uni-heidelberg.de/personen for a full list of investigators. International research partners of SMART-AGE so far include the Center on Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) in the U.S., the European project Mobilise-D, and the Primary Care & Community Health unit of the University of Manchester.
In addition to CREATE, SMART-AGE has other international partners that include European project Mobilise-D, and the Primary Care & Community Health unit of the University of Manchester. SMART-AGE is generously funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation (P2019-003; 2021-2026), Jena and Stuttgart, Germany.