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Description
Active.Me empowers senior citizens, allowing them to better access personalised health and social services that support their active lifestyles and prevention through behavioural interventions. The aim of Active.Me is to improve wellbeing for target groups by developing an integrated solution for preventive care for the elderly / people suffering from chronic diseases. Its focus is not on people who already have serious medical problems and are dependent on intensive care - on the contrary, the aim is to prevent this. Seniors will be supported to maintain a healthy and full life in their household. arget group is individuals over 60 years, particularly at-risk group (elevated blood pressure, prediabetes, mental health). The project will also benefit providers of social and health services, which will be able to improve their offer and thus improve the success of their mission. Providers will be involved through ZMOS. The project will have a strong social inclusion and gender equality element.
Summary of project results
From September 2023 to January 2024, the project faced several challenges. The second wave of the study, including community and online interventions, involved over a thousand seniors, with 610 participating in various forms of interventions across Slovakia. Testing the interest of clients in blood tests as a supportive intervention tool was one of the challenges. Additionally, follow-ups were conducted to gather information on whether participants could maintain new habits after the program ended. An automated tool using LLM, Zhivi, was tested as a potential virtual health coach. The scientific team began evaluating data in January 2024, and follow-ups from groups starting in August to September 2023 were conducted in March 2024. Despite these challenges, the project successfully organized a final conference on March 19, 2024, to present the results, which were also shared at professional conferences.
As part of the project, a service for seniors was developed in various versions with different advantages. This service can be further developed in the future not only for the target group and diagnoses but also for other specific groups or individuals. The designers had the opportunity to verify the importance of the behavioral aspect of this service and the inclusion of specifics for the target group. The project also led to the creation of a new position, health coach. The service proved to be functional and brought good health results. With proper scaling and response to market development and scientific progress, it has great potential not only commercially but also in its social dimension and preventive health benefits. Thanks to project funding, it was possible to thoroughly verify the aspects of the service and develop a technological solution, which would not have been possible without the project and the adequate (free) involvement of the target group
The project advanced our understanding of the senior population. It was interesting not only in terms of the interventions themselves but also in the recruitment process, obtaining feedback, and the diversity of the senior population, their experiences with various projects, and expectations. We believe that the project participants, even though the product was in the experimental phase, gained important skills. Besides the design, the key issue of product scalability emerged, which will determine its future development. From a practical perspective, the biggest breakthrough was the circular management of development, which is a lesson for both practice and any future project funding. Strict termination and sequencing of activities and dividing team members over time is not a suitable approach for the rapid, efficient, and flexible creation and testing of a new product or service. Additionally, the healthcare innovation environment is very dynamic, and it is necessary to respond to these changes.