Increased life expectancy has led to a 15% growth in the population of seniors (aged 65 and above) in Canada, in the last 5 years and this trend is expected to grow. However, the provision of personalized care is bottlenecked, due a severe shortage of formal caregivers in the healthcare industry. Technological solutions are proposed to supplement or replace human care, but have not been widely accepted due to their inability of dynamically adapting to user needs and context of respective situations. Affective data (i.e., emotions and moods of individuals), can be utilized to induce context-awareness and artificial emotional intelligence in such technological solutions, and thereby provide personalized support. Moreover, the capacity of brain to process affective phenomenon can serve as an indicator of onsetting neuro-degenerative diseases. This research thoroughly investigated what affect is, and how it can be used in computing in real-life scenarios. Particularly, evidence was obtained on which biological signals collected using a wearable sensor device were capable of capturing the arousal dimension of affective states (emotions and moods) of individuals. Furthermore, a qualitative study was conducted with older adults using semi-structured interviews, to determine the feasibility and acceptability of different self-report measures of mood, which are crucial to capture the valence dimension of affect. As the hypothesis that older adults would prefer a pictorial measure to self-report their mood failed, we proposed an adjective-based mood reporting instrument prototype, and laid down implications for future research.

The aim of the thesis was to investigate factors influencing ICT use by older-adults. A selection of psycho-social, socio-demographic and health determinants were investigated with Internet use. Data were collected through questionnaires (Studies I-III) and interviews (Study IV). Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted, investigating Internet use as a dichotomous variable, with the aforementioned factors. The results indicated that psycho-social determinants did not affect older-adults’ Internet use (Study I). Scoring higher on the personality traits openness and extraversion did not affect whether the older adults started to use the Internet (Study II). However, well-being increased for some frail older-adults when using the tablet computer and connected to the Internet (Study IV). Some socio-demographic determinants affected Internet use. Being younger in age was a strong contributing factor in all four studies whether the older-adult would use the Internet. Higher education influenced Internet use (Study I & III), correlated with living in a rural or urban setting (Study III); yet education was not influencing whether they would start to use the Internet. Living alone was correlated with Internet use, especially if the older-adult lived in an urban setting (Study III). Functional disability and household economy did not affect Internet use. Finally, the health determinants on Internet use were quite strong. Normal cognitive functioning influenced whether older-adults would start to use the Internet (Study II). The older-adult living in an urban environment, would use the Internet if they had normal cognitive functioning (Study III). It was noted also from Study IV that the learning to use the Tablet PC and Skype took longer for older people and more repetition was needed. Being frail was a strong factor whether the older-adult would use the Internet. They would not want to learn or try to use the technology if they were too ill (Study IV). The findings show only a small increase (7.7%) in Internet use by older-adults over time. The indicators of non-use are: higher in age, lower educated, living alone or rurally, lower cognition and frailty. There are two different profiles of rural and urban Internet users. These determinants along with an understanding of the use of technology, and a good support system, are a few pillars in ICT adoption by older-adults. As ICT continues to develop as a means to provide better health care, it will be important to take into account the abovementioned indicators. In certain cases Internet use is not a given, which continues to exclude older-adults. Part of healthy aging is social participation; therefore being connected and included in the digital society is important. Alternative and not only one design solutions should be explored in health care and by organisations, so as to cater to the heterogeneity of the aging population.

Introdução. O aumento da população idosa tem gerado discussões por grupos de estudos, organizações políticas e de saúde mundiais. O envelhecimento é beneficiado pela autonomia mental do idoso, considerando fatores como liberdade, sexualidade, independência e experiência de vida. Mas estereótipos decorrentes da falta de informação relacionados ao processo de envelhecimento modificam a valorização do idoso, gera preconceitos e imagens negativas, compromete a interação entre as pessoas e prejudica a qualidade de vida. A Gerontotecnologia é uma área de estudos e pesquisas para desenvolvimento de tecnologias voltadas para melhoria da qualidade de vida de idosos e de novas descobertas relacionadas ao envelhecimento, possui interdisciplinaridade com áreas da saúde e áreas tecnológicas e busca promover adequações em produtos e técnicas para compensar perdas cognitivas, físicas e perceptivas dos idosos e dar suporte técnico às pessoas responsáveis pela saúde de um idoso. Objetivos: Descrever o uso de aparelhos eletrônicos por idosos em ambientes domésticos. Materiais e Métodos. Trata-se de um estudo prospectivo, exploratório, descritivo e transversal. Casuística: A amostra foi composta por 135 idosos residentes nas cidades de Ribeirão Preto, São Carlos, São Paulo, e Manaus. A escolha de entrevistados foi aleatória. O projeto foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do HCFMRP-USP. Os procedimentos de coleta de dados incluíram a) Questionário com perguntas fechadas e semi-abertas, b) Protocolos de Avaliação da Capacidade Funcional e qualidade de vida (The Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL) nos meses de maio a outubro de 2010. Para a análise de dados foram utilizados os softwares: EpiInfo 3.4 e SPSS Statistics Viewer. Resultados: Os produtos e tecnologias de comunicação (televisão, DVD e celular) são os aparelhos mais utilizados pelos idosos e são também os que mais receberam relatos de dificuldades no uso. Quanto às dificuldades relatadas, não saber usar a maioria das funções, de diversos aparelhos é um dos motivos para a baixa frequência de utilização. Conclusões: Observa-se que muitas funções dos aparelhos não são utilizadas no dia a dia, em parte por sua complexidade e por possuírem inúmeras funções que não são conhecidas pelos usuários, que para usá-las precisam recorrer ao manual de instruções, o que geralmente não o fazem uma vez que a grande maioria dos manuais está em outro idioma. Os dados coletados sugerem que os botões de controle dos aparelhos devido ao tamanho e contraste entre cor e fundo dificultam a visualização e a utilização dos mesmos. A demora na execução da tarefa por falta de conhecimento das funções do dispositivo e medo de danificarem os produtos faz com que os idosos optem por pedir para que uma pessoa mais jovem realize a tarefa por eles. / Introduction. The aging population has led to discussions by global study groups, political and health organizations. Aging is benefited by the elderly mental autonomy, considering factors such as freedom, sexuality, independence and life experience. But stereotypes stemming from lack of information related to the aging process modifies the value of the elderly, generates prejudices and negative images, compromises the interaction between people and undermines the quality of life. The Gerontechnology is a field of study and research to develop technologies for improving the quality of life of seniors and researching new findings related to aging, in interdisciplinarity with areas of health and technology seeks to promote adjustments in products and techniques to compensate for cognitive, physical and perceptual losses of the elderly and provide technical support to the caretaker. Objectives: To describe the use of electronic devices by the elderly in homes. Methods. This is a prospective, exploratory, descriptive and transversal study. The sample comprised 135 elderly residents in the cities of Ribeirão Preto, Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo and Manaus. The choice of interviewees was random and the project was approved by the Ethics Committee of HCFMRP-USP. The procedures for data collection included: a) questionnaire with closed and semi-open questions b) Protocols for Functional Capacity Evaluation and quality of life (The Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL) from May to October 2010. For the data, were used the analysis softwares: EpiInfo 3.4 and SPSS - Statistics Viewer. Results: The products and communication technologies (television, DVD and mobile) are the most commonly used devices for elderly and are also those who received more difficulties reports. And not knowing how to use most functions of several devices is one of the reasons for the low frequency of use. Conclusions: There are many functions of the devices that are not used in everyday life, partly because of its complexity and because they have numerous functions that are not known by the users who needs to refer to an instruction manual, something that many do not bother to do. The data collected suggest that the devices control buttons have the most problems due to size and color contrast between background and difficulty to see and use them. The delay in completing the task for lack of knowledge of the device and the fear of damaging products makes the elderly choose to ask for a younger person to perform the task for them.

Nous proposons une approche de structuration des activités d’un cluster d’innovation. Nos apports se font à deux niveaux : une aide à la gouvernance et à la structuration des activités, et une méthodologie de sélection et d’accompagnement des projets innovants potentiellement les plus créateurs de valeur de ce cluster. Une application est présentée dans le cadre du développement de la grappe d’entreprises SOLIAGE pour favoriser l’innovation en gérontechnologie. Notre premier apport, d’ordre organisationnel, consiste à structurer le passage d’une phase d’émergence à celle de développement d’une grappe d’entreprises. L’objectif est de permettre à cette organisation participative de se doter d’une vision et de valeurs, d’objectifs, d’une gouvernance, d’un plan d’action qui soient pleinement partagés par ses membres. Ceci est rendu possible par le développement d’une dynamique de coopération et de confiance entre les membres. Ainsi, nous appliquons la méthode PAT-Miroir® qui a permis de structurer l’ensemble des axes d’actions stratégiques du cluster. Notre second apport consiste à structurer et professionnaliser un fond d’innovation finançant et/ou accompagnant des projets les plus créateurs de valeurs dès l’émergence d’une idée, d’un nouveau produit et/ou service. Sur les principes de la méthodologie Radical Innovation Design®, nous avons conçu un système de sélection de projets d’innovation en gérontechnologie, nommé SAPIGE®, qui présente des éléments de preuve suffisants de valeur, d’innovation et de concept. Nous proposons ensuite une logique de financement et/ou d’accompagnement. L’accompagnement vise à renforcer les preuves de valeur, d’innovation et de concept en faisant appel à l’expertise des membres de la grappe d’entreprises. / An approach for structuring the activities of an innovation cluster is proposed. Our main contributions are made at two levels: a governance and activities structuring support, and a system for selecting and supporting innovative projects, which are potentially the most value creating within this cluster. An application is presented on the SOLIAGE cluster development. This innovation cluster encourages the development of products and/or services in the gerontechnology market. Our first contribution is organizational, when the innovation cluster moves from the emergence phase to the development one. The main objective consists in developing common vision, values, goals, governance and action plan fully shared by the members of the innovation cluster. This is made possible by the development of a dynamic of cooperation and trust between members. Thus, we apply the PAT Miroir® Method to structure strategic actions in the cluster. Our second result is to organize and professionalize an innovation fund. This fund allows to finance and/or support innovative projects, which are the most value creating at the earlier stage of development of a new product or service. On the principles of the Radical Innovation Design® methodology, we propose a system, which selects of gerontechnology innovative projects with sufficient evidences of value, innovation and concept. Next, we propose a funding and coaching approach. The coaching, based on the expertise of members of the cluster, aims at strengthen in the proofs of value, innovation and concept.

Introdução. O aumento da população idosa tem gerado discussões por grupos de estudos, organizações políticas e de saúde mundiais. O envelhecimento é beneficiado pela autonomia mental do idoso, considerando fatores como liberdade, sexualidade, independência e experiência de vida. Mas estereótipos decorrentes da falta de informação relacionados ao processo de envelhecimento modificam a valorização do idoso, gera preconceitos e imagens negativas, compromete a interação entre as pessoas e prejudica a qualidade de vida. A Gerontotecnologia é uma área de estudos e pesquisas para desenvolvimento de tecnologias voltadas para melhoria da qualidade de vida de idosos e de novas descobertas relacionadas ao envelhecimento, possui interdisciplinaridade com áreas da saúde e áreas tecnológicas e busca promover adequações em produtos e técnicas para compensar perdas cognitivas, físicas e perceptivas dos idosos e dar suporte técnico às pessoas responsáveis pela saúde de um idoso. Objetivos: Descrever o uso de aparelhos eletrônicos por idosos em ambientes domésticos. Materiais e Métodos. Trata-se de um estudo prospectivo, exploratório, descritivo e transversal. Casuística: A amostra foi composta por 135 idosos residentes nas cidades de Ribeirão Preto, São Carlos, São Paulo, e Manaus. A escolha de entrevistados foi aleatória. O projeto foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do HCFMRP-USP. Os procedimentos de coleta de dados incluíram a) Questionário com perguntas fechadas e semi-abertas, b) Protocolos de Avaliação da Capacidade Funcional e qualidade de vida (The Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL) nos meses de maio a outubro de 2010. Para a análise de dados foram utilizados os softwares: EpiInfo 3.4 e SPSS Statistics Viewer. Resultados: Os produtos e tecnologias de comunicação (televisão, DVD e celular) são os aparelhos mais utilizados pelos idosos e são também os que mais receberam relatos de dificuldades no uso. Quanto às dificuldades relatadas, não saber usar a maioria das funções, de diversos aparelhos é um dos motivos para a baixa frequência de utilização. Conclusões: Observa-se que muitas funções dos aparelhos não são utilizadas no dia a dia, em parte por sua complexidade e por possuírem inúmeras funções que não são conhecidas pelos usuários, que para usá-las precisam recorrer ao manual de instruções, o que geralmente não o fazem uma vez que a grande maioria dos manuais está em outro idioma. Os dados coletados sugerem que os botões de controle dos aparelhos devido ao tamanho e contraste entre cor e fundo dificultam a visualização e a utilização dos mesmos. A demora na execução da tarefa por falta de conhecimento das funções do dispositivo e medo de danificarem os produtos faz com que os idosos optem por pedir para que uma pessoa mais jovem realize a tarefa por eles. / Introduction. The aging population has led to discussions by global study groups, political and health organizations. Aging is benefited by the elderly mental autonomy, considering factors such as freedom, sexuality, independence and life experience. But stereotypes stemming from lack of information related to the aging process modifies the value of the elderly, generates prejudices and negative images, compromises the interaction between people and undermines the quality of life. The Gerontechnology is a field of study and research to develop technologies for improving the quality of life of seniors and researching new findings related to aging, in interdisciplinarity with areas of health and technology seeks to promote adjustments in products and techniques to compensate for cognitive, physical and perceptual losses of the elderly and provide technical support to the caretaker. Objectives: To describe the use of electronic devices by the elderly in homes. Methods. This is a prospective, exploratory, descriptive and transversal study. The sample comprised 135 elderly residents in the cities of Ribeirão Preto, Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo and Manaus. The choice of interviewees was random and the project was approved by the Ethics Committee of HCFMRP-USP. The procedures for data collection included: a) questionnaire with closed and semi-open questions b) Protocols for Functional Capacity Evaluation and quality of life (The Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL) from May to October 2010. For the data, were used the analysis softwares: EpiInfo 3.4 and SPSS - Statistics Viewer. Results: The products and communication technologies (television, DVD and mobile) are the most commonly used devices for elderly and are also those who received more difficulties reports. And not knowing how to use most functions of several devices is one of the reasons for the low frequency of use. Conclusions: There are many functions of the devices that are not used in everyday life, partly because of its complexity and because they have numerous functions that are not known by the users who needs to refer to an instruction manual, something that many do not bother to do. The data collected suggest that the devices control buttons have the most problems due to size and color contrast between background and difficulty to see and use them. The delay in completing the task for lack of knowledge of the device and the fear of damaging products makes the elderly choose to ask for a younger person to perform the task for them.

Abstract The main difficulty in the usability evaluation of a product concept or a prototype is that it is very difficult to take reliably into account many different characteristics or attributes, which cannot be measured with the same unit, scale or instrument. Secondly, evaluation always involves some uncertainty. One can never be really sure that all the essential aspects that affect the final user emphasis are taken into consideration. This uncertainty can be decreased by involving diverse people in the evaluation process during R&D or, before the final decision, by elaborating the best ideas to a level at which they can be really used on a pilot scale in the field. Most often, though, the latter takes too much time and would result in many other problems. Evaluation can possibly be best enhanced by using enough involved people, i.e. various experts and especially end-users, who need or use the product in question. A key ingredient to the success of product development, in addition to ergonomic knowledge, is often thought to be active involvement of the intended product users by (1) measuring user-product interaction and (2) participation in design decisions. When a potential end-user experiments with the product, both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods can be used. This thesis shows some methodological possibilities of evaluation, especially through simulation. It also describes in detail the practical phases of the experiments. For example, a lot of development was needed to find out how to communicate product alternatives and their concepts to (elderly) users. And most importantly, this thesis aims to give evidence of how the procedure called experimental ergonomic evaluation (EEE) should be feasibly implemented and statistically confirmed for significance and consistency. A special focus in the experiments was placed on elderly end-users. Since the number of elderly citizens is increasing, there is a need for products to help the elderly live independently at their homes. Studying and understanding how users accomplish their tasks helps to identify their needs and to formulate implications for the design of technology to satisfy those needs. Thus, user studies conducted before beginning to design a new technology provide a proactive way of involving users in the design process. The first prototypes then enable usability studies, such as user trials. With an emphasis on usability engineering, trials can be developed into more feasible EEE procedures for industrial companies. All the developed and applied EEE procedures were based on a user-centred approach with different user trial types (N = 15). The users as subjects (N = 264) performed as real tasks as possible and, based on their perceptions during the trials, gave their preferences or scored certain variables. The subjects were also observed and measured by the researcher. The products or other technologies in the trials comprised a total of 9 cases, ranging from "low-tech" steps and chairs to "high-tech" information and communication technology (ICT) applications. The perceived preference and observed performance measures were then combined. Different methods are needed simultaneously to make the results more accurate. The present EEE procedures proved to be cost-effective, efficient and sufficiently valid at least in a research context. The EEE procedures ranged from subjective estimations, such as rating and ranking, to more complex multi-criteria methods that can be used to facilitate decision-making, such as conjoint analysis, Mitchell's paired comparison and use-value analysis. Objective evaluation was also used, including measurement of products and users as well various observations. Both experts and end-users (subjects) had their own important roles in the experiment. Based on this study, EEE procedures are easy to implement in industry for routine usability testing in the course of product development. EEE with its wide coverage yields more universal and absolute usability values, not only ones based on direct benchmarking.

Le vieillissement est malheureusement souvent le fait de devoir vivre avec des problèmes qui n'affecteraient pas des personnes jeunes à cause de l'homéostasie. Lorsque quelque chose va mal, comme par exemple une chute ou une maladie aiguë, les personnes âgées peuvent avoir des conséquences bien plus terribles que des personnes jeunes. Ainsi, la prévention des chutes et la surveillance de pathologies pré-existantes comme par exemple la maladie d'Alzheimer est une des clés du "bien vieillir", car le gériatre pourra adapter sa stratégie de prévention à chaque individu. Les gérontechnologies (technologies au service de la personne âgée) peuvent aider dans le cadre des stratégies de prévention globale. Mais, qu'est-ce exactement qu'une gérontechnologie ? Quels sont les déterminants à explorer pour prévenir les chutes ? Comment évaluer de tels dispositifs ? Y a-t-il des limitations techniques auxquelles nous devrions faire attention ? Y a-t-il des résultats cliniques attendus pour ces technologies ? En passant en revue la littérature préexistante sur l'évaluation de gérontechnologies, nous avons montré quels sont les principaux résultats à attendre, ce qu'il manque dans ces évaluations, et nous avons donc proposé un modèle simple d'évaluation pluridisciplinaire. Ce dernier inclus les résultats cliniques (prévention), les limitations techniques, le médico-économique, une évaluation sociologique (acceptabilité, appropriation, habitudes d'utilisation...), et la détermination des paramètres intrinsèques des équipements. Une telle évaluation n'est rendue possible que par un environnement contrôlé, une méthodologie qui suit celle des essais cliniques et par un partenariat avec les industriels. Avec les résultats d'une étude clinique en environnement écologique sur des technologies simples d'assistance et de prévention à domicile, nous avons été capables de dimensionner un essai clinique randomisé bien plus grand en termes d'échantillon afin d'évaluer l'impact préventif d'un service de téléassistance couplé à des technologies de prévention au domicile. En effet, notre étude pilote a montré les bénéfices potentiels d'équipements gérontechnologiques pour les personnes âgées et leurs aidants en termes de santé, de chutes, et d'autonomie fonctionnelle. / Aging is unfortunately like living with a lot of conditions which aren’t affecting people because of homeostasis. When something goes wrong, such as a fall or a sudden and acute disease, elderly people would have terrible consequences, worse than for younger people. Thus, preventing falls, and monitoring pre-existing pathologies such as Alzheimer’s disease is a key to a good aging because geriatrician will adapt their prevention strategies for each individuals. Gerontechnologies (technologies for gerontological purposes) can help global prevention strategies for aging with relative ease. But, what is exactly a gerontechnology? What are the mechanics that can prevent falls? How to assess such devices? Is there any technical limitations we should pay attention for? Is there any clinical outcomes we should see? By reviewing previously made work on assessing technologies we showed what are the main outcomes on assessing technologies, what is lacking in such assessments and proposed a simple model for pluridisciplinary evaluations. This includes clinical outcomes (prevention), technical limitations, medico-economical outcomes, sociological outcomes (acceptability, appropriation, habits…) and intrinsic parameters of the devices. Such assessment is made possible with a controlled environment, clinical trial methodology and partnership with industry. With the result of a previous, real life conditions, clinical trial on simple assisting devices, we were able to design a large scale clinical trial with a complete evaluation of commercialized teleassistance service combined with home-based technologies. Indeed, our pilot study highlighted the potentials benefits of such devices on health, falls, functional autonomy and carers.

A população mundial está envelhecendo e as mudanças no perfil, características e funcionalidade própria dos sujeitos idosos geram impacto no desenvolvimento de produtos, nos serviços de cuidados de saúde e assistência social. Durante o processo de envelhecimento o idoso é exposto a diversos tipos de processos transformadores que podem ter impacto na capacidade funcional de forma que interfiram na realização das atividades da vida diária e na participação social. O equilíbrio é uma das habilidades que podem ser afetadas pelo envelhecimento. A atividade física específica auxilia a evitar quedas entre a população idosa. A relação entre a prática virtual de atividade física e o ganho real de habilidades motoras tem sido pesquisada em diversos estudos. A forma de interação dinamizada pelas interfaces como a do Nintendo Wii Fit desperta interesse na área da saúde. Objetivos: verificar os efeitos da prática virtual de posturas de Yoga sobre o controle postural de mulheres idosas ativas utilizando o software de vídeo game do Nintendo Wii Fit. Especificamente pretende-se verificar se houve alteração no equilíbrio postural estático após o período de intervenção e se o software é sensível à variação de desempenho do sujeito no decorrer da prática. Casuística: Seis mulheres idosas com idade média de 67,6, com escolaridade entre o ensino fundamental e superior, de diferentes religiões, procedentes de Ribeirão Preto e de classe socioeconômica média, sem patologias neurológicas, sensoriais ou ortopédicas associadas. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo exploratório, longitudinal, do tipo intervenção, que teve três etapas definidas: A primeira consistiu na triagem que incluiu a avaliação inicial do controle postural por meio da Escala de Equilíbrio de Berg (EEB), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), Índice de Massa Corpórea (IMC), Escala de Depressão Geriátrica (GDS), Health Assessment Questionnarie (HAQ), teste de Romberg clássico e uma avaliação específica com 16 posições modificadas de Romberg sobre uma plataforma de força (PF). A segunda consistiu num protocolo de intervenção utilizando o Nintendo Wii com 14 posturas de Yoga sobre a plataforma Wii Balance Board, durante 2 meses com freqüência de 3x/semana com duração de 40 minutos. A terceira fase incluiu a reavaliação com os instrumentos EEB, TUG, Teste de Romberg modificado na PF e questionário de avaliação da satisfação dos sujeitos. Análise de Dados: estatística descritiva e inferencial. Os resultados sugeriram que houve uma melhora no controle postural para a realização das tarefas motoras e funcionais, melhora no tempo de percurso do equilíbrio dinâmico. Os testes selecionados foram sensíveis a detecção de alterações do equilíbrio de idosos, levando-se em consideração que a população era ativa e praticante de atividade física. / The world population is aging and the changes in profile, characteristics and functionality of the elderly to generate an impact on the development of products, in the health care systems and social assistance. During the aging process the elderly is exposed for a various types of transformers processes that may have impact in the functional capability in order to in the execution of daily living and in the social participation. The balance is one of skills that can be affected by aging. The specific physical activity helps prevent falls among elderly. The relationship between virtual practice of physical activities and the real gain of motor abilities has been researched in various studies. The interaction form promoted by the interfaces like the Nintendo Wii Fit generates great interest in the health area. Objectives: Check the effects of virtual practice of Yoga postures on postural control of active elderly woman using the software of the Nintedo Wii Fit video game. Specifically intended to check that had alteration in the postural balance after the intervention period and if the software is sensitive to variation of subject performance during the practice. Casuistry: Six elderly woman with an average age of 67,6, education level between basic and undergraduate, from different religions, coming from Ribeirão Preto and the middle socioeconomic class, without neurological, sensory or orthopedic patologies associates. Methodology: It is an exploratory, longitudinal, intervention type, which had three stages defined: The first consisted in the screening that included the initial assessment of postural control using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), Body Mass Index (BMI), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Health Assessment Questionnarie (HAQ), Romberg classic test and a specific assessment with 16 positions modified of Romberg on a force platform (FP). The second consisted of a intervention protocol using the Nintendo Wii with 14 postures of Yoga on the Wii Balance Board plataform, during two months with frequency of 3x/week lasting 40 minutes. The third phase included a reassessment with the instruments BBS, TUG, the Romberg modified test on the FP and assessment questionnaire of subjects satisfaction. Data Analysis: descriptive and inferential statistics. The results suggested an improvement in postural control for the performance of functional motor tasks, improvement in the passage time of dynamic balance. The selected tests were sensitive by detecting changes in the elderly balance, considering that the population was active and practicing physical activity.

The general aim of the present thesis is to expand knowledge about the everyday lives of the oldest old (85+) living independently and to improve and deepen the understanding of their doings and possession and use of technology. The everyday lives of the oldest old represent, in many aspects an under-researched area, partly because this age group is seldom included in national surveys regarding living conditions and time use. This thesis comprises four papers. In paper I the extent and direction of research regarding elderly people is investigated through an examination of articles published in six well-reputed and well-established occupational therapy journals. Fifteen percent of the articles published between 2001 and 2006 included elderly people to some extent. Only five articles were about the oldest old. Most articles had a quantitative approach and concerned instrument development and testing. The findings show that articles concerning the oldest old are sparse, especially regarding their subjective experience. The following three papers are based on data derived from an empirical project based on interviews and observations with 18 oldest old individuals. Paper II explores how individuals over 85 years of age themselves describe and experience daily life. „Doing everyday life‟ is described through five overarching themes: „Experiencing being old‟, „Doings in everyday life‟, „Patterns of the day‟, „Altered doings‟ and „The importance of time‟. The daily doings are described as consisting of the usual things that have always been done, although how the doings are performed have changed. To do something is stressed as important for well-being, and a strong motivation to manage everyday doings on one‟s own is expressed. Paper III explores and describes the experiences and relations to technology in everyday doings of the oldest old as they themselves describe it. Four categories; „Perception of technology‟, „Technology holdings‟, „Handling technology‟ and „Compensatory technology in old age‟ emerged from the material. Technology needs to be integrated into the daily routines for it to be used. A modest and pragmatic attitude towards technology stands out, showing a discrepancy with public policy, which implies that technology will enhance independence and participation for elderly people. In paper IV, data from a younger group (-85) is included to describe, compare and discuss how elderly people belonging to different age cohorts (-85 and 85+) relate to their physical environment, primarily technological objects used in the home, and to examine how this is influenced by experiences and possession of technology over the life course. Possession and use of technological objects are similar for both groups over the life course from the parental home through the family time, although in the senior citizen time differences in technology possession and use appear. At higher ages the chronological age becomes a factor in deciding about upgrading or downsizing of the technology room; this is described as an „aging turn‟. The conclusions drawn are that to continue and perform the everyday doings as one has always done is important in old age. At high ages downsizing of the technology rooms is an important issue and new technological objects need to be incorporated in everyday doings in order to be used and perceived as beneficial.

A população mundial está envelhecendo e as mudanças no perfil, características e funcionalidade própria dos sujeitos idosos geram impacto no desenvolvimento de produtos, nos serviços de cuidados de saúde e assistência social. Durante o processo de envelhecimento o idoso é exposto a diversos tipos de processos transformadores que podem ter impacto na capacidade funcional de forma que interfiram na realização das atividades da vida diária e na participação social. O equilíbrio é uma das habilidades que podem ser afetadas pelo envelhecimento. A atividade física específica auxilia a evitar quedas entre a população idosa. A relação entre a prática virtual de atividade física e o ganho real de habilidades motoras tem sido pesquisada em diversos estudos. A forma de interação dinamizada pelas interfaces como a do Nintendo Wii Fit desperta interesse na área da saúde. Objetivos: verificar os efeitos da prática virtual de posturas de Yoga sobre o controle postural de mulheres idosas ativas utilizando o software de vídeo game do Nintendo Wii Fit. Especificamente pretende-se verificar se houve alteração no equilíbrio postural estático após o período de intervenção e se o software é sensível à variação de desempenho do sujeito no decorrer da prática. Casuística: Seis mulheres idosas com idade média de 67,6, com escolaridade entre o ensino fundamental e superior, de diferentes religiões, procedentes de Ribeirão Preto e de classe socioeconômica média, sem patologias neurológicas, sensoriais ou ortopédicas associadas. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo exploratório, longitudinal, do tipo intervenção, que teve três etapas definidas: A primeira consistiu na triagem que incluiu a avaliação inicial do controle postural por meio da Escala de Equilíbrio de Berg (EEB), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), Índice de Massa Corpórea (IMC), Escala de Depressão Geriátrica (GDS), Health Assessment Questionnarie (HAQ), teste de Romberg clássico e uma avaliação específica com 16 posições modificadas de Romberg sobre uma plataforma de força (PF). A segunda consistiu num protocolo de intervenção utilizando o Nintendo Wii com 14 posturas de Yoga sobre a plataforma Wii Balance Board, durante 2 meses com freqüência de 3x/semana com duração de 40 minutos. A terceira fase incluiu a reavaliação com os instrumentos EEB, TUG, Teste de Romberg modificado na PF e questionário de avaliação da satisfação dos sujeitos. Análise de Dados: estatística descritiva e inferencial. Os resultados sugeriram que houve uma melhora no controle postural para a realização das tarefas motoras e funcionais, melhora no tempo de percurso do equilíbrio dinâmico. Os testes selecionados foram sensíveis a detecção de alterações do equilíbrio de idosos, levando-se em consideração que a população era ativa e praticante de atividade física. / The world population is aging and the changes in profile, characteristics and functionality of the elderly to generate an impact on the development of products, in the health care systems and social assistance. During the aging process the elderly is exposed for a various types of transformers processes that may have impact in the functional capability in order to in the execution of daily living and in the social participation. The balance is one of skills that can be affected by aging. The specific physical activity helps prevent falls among elderly. The relationship between virtual practice of physical activities and the real gain of motor abilities has been researched in various studies. The interaction form promoted by the interfaces like the Nintendo Wii Fit generates great interest in the health area. Objectives: Check the effects of virtual practice of Yoga postures on postural control of active elderly woman using the software of the Nintedo Wii Fit video game. Specifically intended to check that had alteration in the postural balance after the intervention period and if the software is sensitive to variation of subject performance during the practice. Casuistry: Six elderly woman with an average age of 67,6, education level between basic and undergraduate, from different religions, coming from Ribeirão Preto and the middle socioeconomic class, without neurological, sensory or orthopedic patologies associates. Methodology: It is an exploratory, longitudinal, intervention type, which had three stages defined: The first consisted in the screening that included the initial assessment of postural control using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), Body Mass Index (BMI), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Health Assessment Questionnarie (HAQ), Romberg classic test and a specific assessment with 16 positions modified of Romberg on a force platform (FP). The second consisted of a intervention protocol using the Nintendo Wii with 14 postures of Yoga on the Wii Balance Board plataform, during two months with frequency of 3x/week lasting 40 minutes. The third phase included a reassessment with the instruments BBS, TUG, the Romberg modified test on the FP and assessment questionnaire of subjects satisfaction. Data Analysis: descriptive and inferential statistics. The results suggested an improvement in postural control for the performance of functional motor tasks, improvement in the passage time of dynamic balance. The selected tests were sensitive by detecting changes in the elderly balance, considering that the population was active and practicing physical activity.