Innovation: Self Care
Netherlands
AAI Domains:
Capacity and enabling environment (use of ICT)
Independent, healthy and secure living (physical exercise, lifelong learning)
Many societies face the twin challenges of rising average life expectancy, with some forecasting that up to 1 in 3 of those born now could live to be 100, and increasing incidence of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. There is significant potential for a substantial increase in the number of years that people live with one or several long term conditions in later life which can reduce their quality of life and lead to higher health care costs.
There is great scope for preventive action, such as increasing levels of physical activity and reducing obesity, to be encouraged for people of all ages so that the risks of developing a long-term condition are reduced. Many companies have developed wearable technology to provide the user with information on their physical health indicators but they rely on the purchaser to commit to using the monitoring system associated with the device. There is scope for new entrants to the market to provide a user friendly method of supporting people with wearable technology to be more active and to sustain behaviour change.
Self Care is an app for smartphones and tablets that enables users of wearable technology to safely upload their data to an online platform where they can review it and measure changes over time. Self Care offers three levels of support to users: track, learn and improve.
Track enables customers, who pay €4.50 per month for the basic package, to upload their data to the online platform and monitor their performance over time.
Learn is the second level and provides medically validated limits that can be customised to the profile of the user to compare their status against a range of measures. Online coaches provide feedback on the health measures to support people to have realistic expectations of their physical status and how it is changing over time.
Improve is the third level and enables customers to share their data with family members, who may also be engaged with increasing their level of physical activity, and with health care professionals. Customers can set their own goals and time frames for achieving them with online coaches providing support to nudge them to maintain their behaviour change.
Self Care also enables participants to compare their current status with the consequences of unchanged behaviour so providing both positive affirmation for maintain higher levels of physical activity and awareness of the negative consequences of a more sedentary lifestyle. While there are numerous online platforms that the users of wearable technology can use, there are thought to be only two operating in the Dutch market providing scope for Self Care to expand.
In relation to active ageing, Self Care encourages increased levels of physical activity by making people who use wearable health technology of the potential long-term effects of their lifestyle decisions on their health and well-being. There is effectively an element of lifelong learning through health education involved in the process of learning about the long-term benefits of being more active and the risks of being sedentary.
Self Care is based on the novel use of ICT to monitor people’s levels of physical activity and to encourage behaviour change through the support of online coaches that seek to nudge people to maintain their lifestyle behaviour change.