This thesis addresses the hypothesis that unobtrusive monitoring of daily living could be used to evaluate changes in the health status of frail elderly people living alone at home. Low cost motion sensors can be used for monitoring the long term trends in occupant?s well-being in terms of physical, mental, social and environmental factors. The monitored data can be used to quantitatively measure parameters that can provide insight into the level of activity and functional ability of the subject. Any deviations in these parameters can provide information on the changing health status of the subject. This thesis attempts for the first time to establish a mathematical and statistical framework for the monitoring of functional health status in the home using a network of wireless sensors to monitor occupancy in each room of the house. A low power and low cost, unobtrusive occupancy monitoring system using ZigBee wireless technology and passive infrared sensors has been developed by the Biomedical Systems Laboratory at the University of New South Wales. The essence of the occupancy monitoring system is to detect variations in the activities of daily living (ADL) of elderly people living alone at home. The finite state, discrete parameter, time homogeneous Markov chain represents a theoretical framework for an unobtrusive occupancy monitoring system. An implementation of this framework for monitoring occupancy pattern is presented in real time use. The system was evaluated in a series of field studies in laboratory and home environment, in supervised and unsupervised settings, using cohorts of healthy elderly subjects living alone in their homes in community dwelling setting. A pilot trial was conducted in which four healthy elderly subjects living alone had PIR motion sensors installed in their homes at strategic points for a period of up to 13 weeks. The functionality of the system was evaluated over a domain of basic daily activities. A profile of the activities, in real time environment, for different times and days was stored as transition probability matrices. Automatic techniques for interpreting the test data captured by the system in terms of human movements were evaluated and compared with the wellness profile of the subject. Trial results exhibited that clinically significant model parameters were able to detect longitudinal deviations in the functional health status of elderly people.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Hong Kong has a population of more than seven million people which since 1995 has been growing by 150 immigrants per day from Mainland China. Although migrants from Mainland China do share some similar cultures with their counterparts in Hong Kong, the concept of health and actions they take to maintain their health are different. This study aims to investigate the association between socio-economic factors, the settlement period since migration and the health status of migrant women from China to Hong Kong and their utilization of health care facilities. This research further aims to investigate any implications for the practice of health promotion and prevention-related activities among these women and compares these results with those of Chinese women in Mainland China. A total of four hundred women between the ages of 20 and 50 years were selected for this study, two hundred women who had migrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong and two hundred women still resident in Mainland China. Participants in China were selected from Guangzhou, Guangdong,Shanghai, and Xiamen, these being the more common areas of origin of the immigrant women in Hong Kong. The two cross-sectional surveys were carried out to collect comparable data on the health status for both the groups, their utilization of health care services, their understanding of health promotion and prevention, and their actual health promotion behaviour. The results show that nearly half of the immigrant women from Mainland China had no further education beyond primary school (51%) and that a greater majority of them were unemployed (84%). A surprising 73% of the migrant women had more than two children despite most belonging in the lowest income group (total family income of below HK$15,000k) per month. While younger migrants were generally shown to be healthier, most immigrant women reported their health as being ‘much worse’ than before migration. The single-most significant predictor for immigrant women’s physical health was the number of children they had, while for women in Mainland China, the significant predictor was age. Regarding stress, among immigrant women having more children and being unemployed were significant predictors of increased stress; while for women in Mainland China living in rented private rooms or units, having a higher number of children, low family income, and living with their extended family were significant predictors. Regarding health service utilization, immigrant women living on public or private estates were significantly more likely to use health care services than those living in temporary housing or shelters; and the more educated immigrant women were, the more they used health care services. For women in Mainland China, the higher the family income and the larger the family household, the more they used health care services. Despite 95% of the immigrant women feeling they could do more to improve their health status, only 22% of them reported having performed health promotion and preventative strategies since relocating to Hong Kong. Being Cantonese-speaking and living in a family household were significant predictors for immigrant women to perform health promotion and preventative activities. Results for participants in Mainland China show that while a smaller number of these women, 85 % felt they could be doing more, 61.5% of them were already performing health promotion and preventative strategies to improve their health status. A significant predictor for women in Mainland China was total family income; the higher the family income, the more health promotion activities were performed. The findings of this study should greatly assist both government and non-government organizations in Hong Kong and elsewhere not only in providing more effective health care services for migrant women from Mainland China but also in informing the public health policies and planning of health care provision.

Thesis (Dr. P.H.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Oct 31, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Nov. 13, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-73).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Australian National University, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1940.

Dissertation (Ph.D.).--University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at San Antonio, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-183).

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / "Summer 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56).

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/18). Includes bibliographical references.