Background: For successful aging-in-place strategy development, in-home monitoring technology is necessary as a new home modification strategy. Monitoring an older adult’s daily physical activity at home can positively impact their health and well-being by providing valuable information about functional, cognitive, and social health status. However, it is questionable how these in-home monitoring technologies have changed the traditional residential environment. A comprehensive review of existing research findings should be utilized to characterize recent relative technologies and to inform design considerations. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to classify recent smart home technologies that monitor older adults’ health and to architecturally describe these technologies as they are used in older adults’ homes. Methods: The scoping review method was employed to identify key characteristics of in-home monitoring technologies for older adults. In June 2021, four databases, including Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Scopus, were searched for peer-reviewed articles pertaining to smart home technologies used to monitor older adults’ health in their homes. We used two search strings to retrieve articles: types of technology and types of users. For the title, abstract, and full-text screening, the inclusion criteria were original and peer-reviewed research written in English, and research on monitoring, detecting, recognizing, analyzing, or tracking human physical, emotional, and social behavior. The exclusion criteria included theoretical, conceptual, or review papers; studies on wearable systems; and qualitative research. Results: This scoping review identified 30 studies published between June 2016 and 2021 providing overviews of in-home monitoring technologies, including (1) features of smart home technologies and (2) sensor locations and sensor data. First, we found six functions of in-home monitoring technology among the reviewed papers: daily activities, abnormal behaviors, cognitive impairment, falls, indoor person positioning, and sleep quality. Most of the research (n=27 articles) focused on functional monitoring and analysis, such as activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, or falls among older adults; a few studies (n=3) covered social interaction monitoring. Second, this scoping review also found 16 types of sensor technologies. The most common data types encountered were passive infrared motion sensors (n=21) and contact sensors (n=19), which were used to monitor human behaviors such as bodily presence and time spent on activities. Specific locations for each sensor were also identified. Conclusions: This wide-ranging synthesis demonstrates that in-home monitoring technologies within older adults’ homes play an essential role in aging in place, in that the technology monitors older adults’ daily activities and identifies various health-related issues. This research provides a key summarization of in-home monitoring technologies that can be applied in senior housing for successful aging in place. These findings will be significant when developing home modification strategies or new senior housing.

Aim: The main purpose of this research was to identify significant relationships between environmental hazards and older adults’ falling. Background: Falls can present a major health risk to older persons. Identifying potential environmental hazards that increase fall risks can be effective for developing fall prevention strategies that can create safer residential environments for older adults. Methods: The research included a retrospective analysis of 449 fall incident reports in two case-control buildings. In the homes of 88 older adults residing in independent living, an observational study was conducted to identify environmental hazards using two assessment tools including Westmead Home Safety Assessment (WeHSA) and resident interviews. Results: A fall history analysis indicated that falls occurred in the bathroom were significantly associated with hospitalization. The observational study revealed that the bathroom was the most common place for environmental hazards. The research showed, with increasing age and use of mobility assistive aids, there was a corresponding increase in the total number of environmental hazards. Home hazards were significantly and independently associated with the incidence rate of falls. In other words, the high fall rate building included more environmental hazards compared to the low fall rate building while controlling for residents’ age and mobility. Conclusion: The current study provides empirical evidence of the link between environmental hazards and older adults’ falling, which is useful for developing effective fall intervention design strategies.

The main purpose of this research is to examine the lighting condition and residents’ perception of lighting in a senior retirement community in order to understand various environmental issues related to lighting. Also, this research aims to suggest a new lighting solution to compensate for older adults’ vision impairment and challenges at home for a successful aging place. In the normal aging process, more than 30% of older adults have a vision impairment, which negatively affects health and well-being of older adults such as limited activities, falling, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and a sense of control. Via a mixed method study design, residents in senior living communities were asked to describe the adequacy of light levels and specific tasks and needs related to lighting at their home. In addition to the survey and interview, indoor lighting assessments were conducted during the in-home session. The research findings highlighted older adults’ experience and perception of lighting in their homes. Paired-sample t test indicated that there were statistically significant differences in light levels between normal conditions and full capacity conditions in all spaces. In order to address various challenges which older adults have been experiencing in their home for a long time, this research suggests new smart lighting platform which provides a proper level of illumination in older adult’s homes. Such a smart platform is proactive and can dynamically adjust the smart devices or lighting fixtures in situ, while older adults are performing certain tasks.