2019 Resources & Research
RESOURCES
In 2018 and 2019 the Seniors Independent Living Collaborative (SILC) received funding from the Illinois Science & Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF) to produce a set of consumer resources on smart home devices and services for seniors choosing to age in place. These resources include:
In 2018 and 2019 the Seniors Independent Living Collaborative (SILC) received funding from the Illinois Science & Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF) to produce a set of consumer resources on smart home devices and services for seniors choosing to age in place. These resources include:
- The Consumer Guide to Aging in Place: Smart Technology & Services;
- The Care Providers Guide to Smart Devices & Services;
- An online information clearinghouse on aging in place with smart devices and services;
- The smart device Senior Specialist Installer Training Program and Directory; and
- Outreach materials for collaborators assisting in the promotion of these resources.
Consumer Guide to Aging in Place
The guide describes how smart home devices and utility smart grid services can make a home a more affordable, safe, secure, comfortable and convenient place in which to age. The guide was written by a team of consumer science, gerontology and human factors design experts in a simple and easy to comprehend style and makes use of graphics, over-sized text and high contrast design to communicate the content of the document. The guide includes:
- A description of how smart home devices and smart utility services can be used to provide older adults greater safety, security, comfort, convenience and control of the home environment while reducing their cost of living;
- Guidance on how to shop, purchase and arrange for the installation of smart home devices;
- Information and enrollment guidance for ComEd and Ameren Illinois smart pricing programs;
- A comparison table of the most popular smart home devices currently on the market; and,
- A directory of home improvement contractors in Illinois that have been trained to install them for senior homeowners.
Care providers guide to smart devices & Services
Written by the same interdisciplinary team of researchers that produced the Consumer's Guide to Aging in Place, this guide profiles care recipients and care providers in Illinois and describes caregiving challenges that smart devices and services can effectively address. And like the Consumer's Guide, it contains guidance on conducting a smart device needs assessment and on selection and installation. The Care Providers Guide also contains a useful list of answers to frequently asked questions and a list of smart device and service terms.
Clearinghouse on Smart Technologies & Aging in Place
The Smart Self Reliance website (www.smartselfreliance.org) is an online clearinghouse designed to serve as a comprehensive source of information on smart home devices and smart grid related services for aging in place. The website contains a searchable database of information useful to senior homeowners, their family members and care providers, as well as to smart device installers and researchers in the fields of aging studies, consumer technology adoption and adaptive engineering design.
Visitors to the site can:
Visitors to the site can:
- Download the Consumer Guide to Aging in Place;
- Search and review smart home technologies currently on the market;
- Receive guidance on smart home device selection, purchase and installment arrangements; and
- Find an installer through a directory of Illinois contractors trained to meet the specific needs of older adults.
Senior Specialist Installer Training
The I-STAR Senior Specialist Training Program is designed to sensitize contractors and service vendors to the special needs of senior homeowners and to assist them in developing a set of enhanced professional practices customized to the installation and programming of smart devices for this consumer segment.
The Senior Specialist Training Provides:
The Senior Specialist Training Provides:
- An overview of the four distinct sub-segments that comprise the senior homeowner consumer market;
- A description of common cognitive, physical and attitudinal limitations relative to smart technology adoption;
- A method and a process for assessing specific senior homeowner needs prior to device installation;
- Effective smart device settings to accommodate senior homeowner limitations;
- Guidance on reading consumer cues and communicating with the four senior age-cohorts;
- Guidance on effective device demonstrations and related instructional techniques;
- Practice with onsite assessments and demonstrations using role plays, “what if” scenarios, etc.;
- Guidance on trouble-shooting failed devices and an approach to restore senior consumer confidence; and
- Guidance on communicating and working effectively with a senior homeowner’s care provider.
Outreach Materials for Collaborators
SILC is collaborating with community-based service and advocacy organizations, universities and utilities to build awareness about these resources among Illinois' senior homeowners. To aid our collaborators, SILC has developed an information kit suitable for co-branding and will provide consulting assistance in its use. To learn more, please contact Doug Newman at 773-899-0801
or by email at: doug.newman@silcresearch.org
or by email at: doug.newman@silcresearch.org
Research
SILC received additional grant support from ISEIF in 2019 to expand its consumer information offerings to benefit people with disabilities. To pursue this expansion effort, SILC is collaborating with the Illinois Adaptive Technology Program, the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living and the Progress Center for Independent Living serving the greater Chicago metropolitan region. The collaborative effort to produce a set of useful resources for both seniors and people with disabilities is known as the
Smart Self Reliance Initiative. The initial set of resources in production include the following:
Development of the Smart Self Reliance Website
This effort is expanding and adapting content generated for the Clearinghouse on Smart Technologies on Aging in Place to meet the specific needs and preferences of people with disabilities. This effort will also migrate that expanded content to an entirely new website format designed to comply with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Website Access Guidelines 2.0 so that it can be used by all persons with disabilities, including those with partial or total visual impairment. In addition, the new website is being designed for search engine optimization to ensure that these resources are found by those seeking guidance on the use of smart devices and enrollment in smart utility programs. The new website is scheduled to launch in late December of 2019. To visit the placeholder website for the content that is being adapted, click the button below.
Smart Self Reliance Initiative. The initial set of resources in production include the following:
Development of the Smart Self Reliance Website
This effort is expanding and adapting content generated for the Clearinghouse on Smart Technologies on Aging in Place to meet the specific needs and preferences of people with disabilities. This effort will also migrate that expanded content to an entirely new website format designed to comply with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Website Access Guidelines 2.0 so that it can be used by all persons with disabilities, including those with partial or total visual impairment. In addition, the new website is being designed for search engine optimization to ensure that these resources are found by those seeking guidance on the use of smart devices and enrollment in smart utility programs. The new website is scheduled to launch in late December of 2019. To visit the placeholder website for the content that is being adapted, click the button below.
Smart Device Programming & Operating Instructions for Care Providers
The team is exploring how smart home devices can be employed to assist care providers assisting seniors and people with cognitive, sensory or physical mobility challenges and develop guidance for customized device programming and instructional protocols that address their unique needs. This same guidance will be shared with device manufacturers in hopes that they will further disseminate the resource to consumers of their products in the future.
Contractor Training Enhancements
The team is enhancing the smart home device installer training program based on an assessment of the performance of the beta-tested version with participating contractors and working to establish a formal certification for the training recognized by the building and renovation trade industries. The enhancements will also contain improvements that reflect input from senior specialists' focus group sessions to better reflect their real-world experience serving senior homeowners.
Exploration of a Senior & Disabled Consumer Evaluation Program for Smart Devices
The team has begun to examine the feasibility of a program to test and rate the usability of smart energy home automation devices for people with disabilities and older adults aging in place and to produce recommended design improvements for manufacturers to better serve these consumers.
The program would entail development of consumer product testing procedures and their use by older adults (60+) and people with both physical and cognitive limitations, to evaluate the usability of smart devices to support independent living. These include devices that contribute to the safety, security, comfort and convenience of people living and aging independently in their homes. The testing would identify facilitators and barriers to use that influence successful deployment and integration into everyday activities. The procedures would be developed by a consumer product testing entity working in tandem with electronics engineering, human factor design and gerontology experts at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Beta testing of the procedures would be conducted through focus group sessions with individuals from both of the targeted consumer groups recruited and supported by the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent living and the Illinois Association of Senior Centers.
Collaborative Consumer Outreach
The team is working to leverage additional support to promote consumer use of SILC resources and to continue this work through three efforts. These include:
The team is exploring how smart home devices can be employed to assist care providers assisting seniors and people with cognitive, sensory or physical mobility challenges and develop guidance for customized device programming and instructional protocols that address their unique needs. This same guidance will be shared with device manufacturers in hopes that they will further disseminate the resource to consumers of their products in the future.
Contractor Training Enhancements
The team is enhancing the smart home device installer training program based on an assessment of the performance of the beta-tested version with participating contractors and working to establish a formal certification for the training recognized by the building and renovation trade industries. The enhancements will also contain improvements that reflect input from senior specialists' focus group sessions to better reflect their real-world experience serving senior homeowners.
Exploration of a Senior & Disabled Consumer Evaluation Program for Smart Devices
The team has begun to examine the feasibility of a program to test and rate the usability of smart energy home automation devices for people with disabilities and older adults aging in place and to produce recommended design improvements for manufacturers to better serve these consumers.
The program would entail development of consumer product testing procedures and their use by older adults (60+) and people with both physical and cognitive limitations, to evaluate the usability of smart devices to support independent living. These include devices that contribute to the safety, security, comfort and convenience of people living and aging independently in their homes. The testing would identify facilitators and barriers to use that influence successful deployment and integration into everyday activities. The procedures would be developed by a consumer product testing entity working in tandem with electronics engineering, human factor design and gerontology experts at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Beta testing of the procedures would be conducted through focus group sessions with individuals from both of the targeted consumer groups recruited and supported by the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent living and the Illinois Association of Senior Centers.
Collaborative Consumer Outreach
The team is working to leverage additional support to promote consumer use of SILC resources and to continue this work through three efforts. These include:
- Delivery of live promotional presentations at regional senior recreation centers;
- Distribution of articles and testimonials about these resources through select media outlets; and
- Collaborative initiatives with aligned trade, advocacy, university and community organizations.