Paul Jansons

A personalised cognitive strategy program delivered by an Amazon Alexa Echo Show 8 (Alexa) using natural conversations may be more acceptable than some of the traditional digital health approaches such as internet browsers, tablets and smart phones. Alexas present an ideal method to deliver personalised strategies such as medication/appointment reminders or assist people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia to carry out activities of daily living such as meal preparation, as they can be automated to provide voice reminders and instructions which can prompt users to carry out scheduled activities throughout the day, and enable regular feedback to the prescribing health professional. We will conduct a co-designed 12-week trial of a home-based personalised rehabilitative strategy program delivered via an Alexa in older adults aged 60 years and older with MCI and/or dementia.

We anticipate that a 12-week Alexa delivered home-based personalised rehabilitative strategy program will be feasible, acceptable and improve depression, cognition and activities of daily living compared to a control group. Data from this project will explore the delivery of this project to reduce healthcare inequalities in people with dementia by providing high quality and cost-effective services to underserved populations, such as low-income individuals and people in remote and rural areas.

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Paul Jansons is an exercise physiologist and Research Fellow at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University. He also holds an honorary appointment with the Bone and Muscle Research Group, within the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Monash University.