Dysphagia, or the difficulty swallowing, severely impacts the physical and mental health of many dementia patients, yet, current solutions are limited and rarely focus on improving the mealtime experience. This research investigates how assistive technologies can enhance mealtime experiences of dementia patients with dysphagia through literature review, interviews, observations, prototyping, expert evaluations, and patient testing. The findings offer insights into the development, implementation, functionality, and design of assistive technologies, highlighting the importance of making them customizable, robust, and affordable, among other things. These outcomes can provide a foundation for future research, which could lead to refined assistive technologies that significantly improve the quality of life of dementia patients with dysphagia and of those close to them.

The SHAPES pan-European pilot campaign aimed to enhance older adults' health, well-being, and autonomy while promoting sustainable health and social care systems through smart technology interventions. Conducted across 11 countries and 15 pilot sites and 7 piloting themes, the SHAPES prog engaged older adults, caregivers, and professionals to validate interoperable innovations. Given the need to answer broader questions about the utility of digital supports for older adults' quality-of-liofe, this study reports on a secondary analysis of harmonized psychosocial outcome data collected from 283 participants at baseline, end-of-pilot, and three-month follow-up across all of the SHAPES pilot themes. Findings indicate moderate-to-large improvements in environmental quality of life (QOL), self-rated health-related quality of life (HRQOL), perceived social support, and system usability. Anxiety and depression levels slightly declined, but no significant changes were observed in psychological, physical, or social relationship domains of QOL. Notably, HRQOL declined following the withdrawal of technology, raising ethical considerations regarding the sustainability of such interventions. While findings suggest that technology can positively shape older adults' social and environmental contexts, further analyses are needed to disentangle these relationships. These results underscore the importance of continued technological support for ageing populations and the potential consequences of its removal.

Digital Home Care (DHC) may enable elderly people and people with chronic diseases to continue living at home despite their disabilities or medical challenges. The study aims to explore the use of DHC and document experiences from elderly people and people with chronic conditions. A mixed method approach was implemented. In total 52 older adults and persons with chronic conditions receiving DHC answered a questionnaire. Professional health care personnel providing DHC participated in a half day workshop discussing their experiences. The users receiving DHC expressed their satisfaction with DHC, and more than half of the users preferred DHC, while few users preferred traditional home visits. Increased safety, independence and flexibility together with improved health competences among the users were frequently reported. These findings were confirmed by the health care personnel. Log in to the App was reported as a challenge by some users. Our study demonstrate that DHC was appreciated by the users, but further studies on expanding the user groups, facilitating implementation and documenting long term impact of DHC are needed.

The aging population poses major challenges to healthcare, social integration and individual well-being. Emotional support chatbots using artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) hold great promise to promote independent living and reduce social isolation. In this study, a hybrid chatbot based on the Rasa framework that integrates rule-based, retrieval-based and generative techniques to provide emotional support is developed and evaluated. The chatbot consists of three modules: a rule-based module for predefined tasks (Diary, Memory, Reminder), a retrieval-based module that uses a dialog database for emotional support, and a generative module that is fine-tuned based on multiple data sets. A switching mechanism enables adaptive responses. Initial experiments showed that the rule-based module handled predefined scenarios effectively, while the retrieval-based and generative modules needed improvements. By extending the dialog database and fine-tuning state-of-the-art LLMs, we were able to improve the responses quality and contextual adaptation. However, maintaining conversational coherence remains a challenge. This study demonstrates the potential of hybrid chatbot architectures for emotional support of older adults and provides insights for future improvements in assistive technology. Future research will focus on optimizing the generative module through prompt engineering and agent techniques as well as reducing response latency for practical use.

Health and social care (HSC) are marked by interwoven challenges of increasing need and demand, integrating digitisation, and rights-based imperatives. Participatory governance may empower individuals and communities by involving them directly in decision-making processes and may be associated with better outcomes, but attitudes to it across Europe are unclear. We aimed to survey public attitudes around participatory governance.

A cross-sectional, anonymous, online survey was administered to a European sample (N=1198). The survey assessed attitudes to governance in HSC, with particular reference to a digital health platform. Demographic and psychosocial data were collected. Data were analysed quantitatively.

A majority endorsed health systems, governments, or the EU to own/operate/be trusted to manage data-sharing digital health platforms. There were positive dispositions to sharing data and patient or public participation in governance. Participants reported concerns about rights, ethical data use, and limited opportunities for governance participation. Age, education, rurality, income, activity limitation, digital confidence, technology acceptance, health literacy, and trust correlated with data sharing and governance. Differences between countries were evident. Women were more concerned about rights and ethical data use.

Findings may assist in developing participatory models for governing digital networks in HSC. Such participation may advance inclusion in governing, decision-making, and oversight.

Patients with diseases such as ALS requiring respiratory management and using a ventilator through a tracheotomy are unable to vocalize because air cannot reach the vocal cords. For such patients, the air is delivered into the trachea through the tracheal orifice by an oxygen cylinder or an oxygen supply system in the hospital room, and the airflow vibrates the vocal cords to produce a vocalization. We have researched a system for controlling an electric artificial larynx using myoelectric signals in the neck. We have designed a system that uses a small pump as an air supply device by applying a control system. We have also developed a pump unit shape using multiple small pumps with piezoelectric elements. In this presentation, we will discuss the results of finite element simulations of a new shape that has the potential to increase the flow rate and pressure by applying the principles of vacuum ejectors.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) presents significant challenges in healthcare accessibility due to heightened anxiety and sensory sensitivities. The XXXX project introduces a multidisciplinary approach to mitigate these barriers through adaptive, non-invasive technologies and inclusive care protocols. Key innovations include real-time stress monitoring via facial image analysis and chair-based ballistocardiography, designed to dynamically assess and respond to anxiety levels. Preliminary results from testing these technologies suggest promising potential in improving care experiences, paving the way for more inclusive, patient-centred healthcare solutions.