Supporting Community First Responders in Aging in Place: An Action Design for a Community-Based Smart Activity Monitoring System

To maintain elderly individuals’ ability to live independently in their own homes, technologies such as sensors and the internet of things can be used to facilitate real-time monitoring and automate emergency detection and alerts to enable first responders to deliver help on time. This study examines the design problems associated with such activity monitoring systems, particularly how to support the situational awareness of community first responders who are located remotely and do not have professional healthcare knowledge. Based on a three-year action design research study that investigated a sensor-based monitoring system for elderly people deployed in a natural community setting, we developed abstract design knowledge. Four design principles aimed at enhancing responders’ perceptions, comprehension, and projection of information are proposed to promote informed decision-making and timely responses by drawing on the situational awareness model. In addition to the nascent design knowledge regarding remote activity monitoring in different instances, this study extends our knowledge of the community-based model by foregrounding its multiplicity and the active roles of community stakeholders in providing care to elderly people.