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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Research has demonstrated that temperature and relative humidity substantially influence overall perceptions of indoor air quality (Fang, Clausen, & Fanger, 1998). This finding places temperature quality as a high priority, especially for vulnerable adults over 60. Temperature extremes and fluctuation, as well as the perception of those conditions, affect physical performance, thermal comfort and health of older adults (Chatonnet & Cabanac, 1965, pp. 185-6; Fumiharu, Watanabe, Park, Shephard, & Aoyagi, 2005; Heijs & Stringer, 1988). The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have developed thermal-comfort standards for working-age, healthy individuals. None of these standards address the physiological and psychological needs of older adults (ASHRAE Standard 55, 2010; ISO-7730, 2005). This dissertation investigates the impacts of thermal conditions on self-reported health and perceived comfort for older adults, hypothesizing that warmer and more-table indoor thermal conditions will increase the health and perceived comfort of these adults. To this end, a new set of thermal comfort metrics was designed and tested to address the thermal preferences of older adults. The SENIOR COMFORT Metrics 2013 outlined new thresholds for optimal indoor high and low temperatures and set limits on thermal variability over time based on the ASHRAE-55 2010 model. This study was conducted at Sunnyslope Manor, a multi-unit, public-housing complex in the North Phoenix. Nearly 60% (76 of 118) of the residents (aged 62-82) were interviewed using a 110-question, self-reporting survey in 73 apartment units. A total of 40 questions and 20 sub-questions addressing perceptions of comfort, pain, sleep patterns, injuries, and mood were extracted from this larger health condition survey to assess health and thermal comfort. Indoor environmental thermal measurements included temperature in three locations: kitchen, living area, and bedroom and data were recorded every 15 minutes over 5 full days and 448 points. Study results start to indicate that older adults for Sunnyslope Manor preferred temperatures between 76 and 82.5 degrees Fahrenheit and that lower temperatures as outlined by ASHRAE-55 2010 increases the rate of injuries and mood changes in older adults among other findings.
ContributorsFonseca, Ernesto (Author) / Bryan, Harvey (Thesis advisor) / Ahrentzen, Sherry (Committee member) / Shea, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
ABSTRACT The major hypothesis tested in this research is that the psychological well-being and life satisfaction of elderly adult individuals can be predicted from religiosity (organizational and non-organizational religious beliefs and behaviors). The sample consisted of 142 adults between the ages of 65-90, with the majority in the 65-70 age group (48%) (SD = 1.176). The entire sample resides in the state of Arizona, in both urban and rural communities. Participants were administered a questionnaire which requested demographic information, and three instruments: the Duke University Religion Index (the DUREL), and the Affect Balance Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index - Z (LSIZ). Correlational and Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relation between these adults' psychological well-being, life satisfaction and their religiosity. Independent t-tests were also used to examine possible sex, ethnic and religiosity effects on psychological well-being and life satisfaction. Findings revealed that psychological well-being and life satisfaction are higher when religiosity is higher, regardless of sex or ethnicity. These findings are consistent with those of previous research in this field.
ContributorsMoreno-Weinert, Inez (Author) / Moore, Elsie (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / Ladd, Becky (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
As people age, the desire to grow old independently and in place becomes larger and takes greater importance in their lives. Successful aging involves the physical, mental and social well-being of an individual. To enable successful aging of older adults, it is necessary for them to perform both activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Embedded assessment has made it possible to assess an individual's functional ability in-place, however the success of any technology depends largely on the user than the technology itself. Previous researches in in-situ functional assessment systems have heavily focused on the technology rather than on the user. This dissertation takes a user-centric approach to this problem by trying to identify the design and technical challenges of deploying and using a functional assessment system in the real world.
To investigate this line of research, a case study was conducted with 4 older adults in their homes, interviews were conducted with 8 caregivers and a controlled lab experiment was conducted with 8 young healthy adults at ASU, to test the sensors. This methodology provides a significant opportunity to advance the scientific field by expanding the present focus on IADL task performance to an integrated assessment of ADL and IADL task performance. Doing so would not only be more effective in identifying functional decline but could also provide a more comprehensive assessment of individuals' functional abilities with independence and also providing the caregivers with much needed respite.
The controlled lab study tested the sensors embedded into daily objects and found them to be reliable, and efficient. Short term exploratory case studies with healthy older adults revealed the challenges associated with design and technical aspects of the current system, while inductive analysis performed on interviews with caregivers helped to generate central themes on which future functional assessment systems need to be designed and built. The key central themes were a) focus on design / user experience, b) consider user's characteristics, personality, behavior and functional ability, c) provide support for independence, and d) adapt to individual user's needs.
To investigate this line of research, a case study was conducted with 4 older adults in their homes, interviews were conducted with 8 caregivers and a controlled lab experiment was conducted with 8 young healthy adults at ASU, to test the sensors. This methodology provides a significant opportunity to advance the scientific field by expanding the present focus on IADL task performance to an integrated assessment of ADL and IADL task performance. Doing so would not only be more effective in identifying functional decline but could also provide a more comprehensive assessment of individuals' functional abilities with independence and also providing the caregivers with much needed respite.
The controlled lab study tested the sensors embedded into daily objects and found them to be reliable, and efficient. Short term exploratory case studies with healthy older adults revealed the challenges associated with design and technical aspects of the current system, while inductive analysis performed on interviews with caregivers helped to generate central themes on which future functional assessment systems need to be designed and built. The key central themes were a) focus on design / user experience, b) consider user's characteristics, personality, behavior and functional ability, c) provide support for independence, and d) adapt to individual user's needs.
ContributorsRavishankar, Vijay Kumar (Author) / Burleson, Winslow (Thesis advisor) / Coon, David (Committee member) / Mahoney, Diane (Committee member) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Li, Baoxin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Statistical process control (SPC) and predictive analytics have been used in industrial manufacturing and design, but up until now have not been applied to threshold data of vital sign monitoring in remote care settings. In this study of 20 elders with COPD and/or CHF, extended months of peak flow monitoring (FEV1) using telemedicine are examined to determine when an earlier or later clinical intervention may have been advised. This study demonstrated that SPC may bring less than a 2.0% increase in clinician workload while providing more robust statistically-derived thresholds than clinician-derived thresholds. Using a random K-fold model, FEV1 output was predictably validated to .80 Generalized R-square, demonstrating the adequate learning of a threshold classifier. Disease severity also impacted the model. Forecasting future FEV1 data points is possible with a complex ARIMA (45, 0, 49), but variation and sources of error require tight control. Validation was above average and encouraging for clinician acceptance. These statistical algorithms provide for the patient's own data to drive reduction in variability and, potentially increase clinician efficiency, improve patient outcome, and cost burden to the health care ecosystem.
ContributorsFralick, Celeste (Author) / Muthuswamy, Jitendran (Thesis advisor) / O'Shea, Terrance (Thesis advisor) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Pizziconi, Vincent (Committee member) / Shea, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013