Thematic Area of product / prototype / service:
Housing, Supported Housing, Ambient Assisted Living
Description of the product/Prototype/service:
Persons with intellectual disabilities moved from a fully supervised housing situation (either family or residential care institution) to a semi-supervised, technically supported individual apartment. All four smart homes were occupied in 2019 and are located in a new building with more than thirty parties in Upper Austria. The apartments are spread over three floors and each has a small kitchen. The residents prepare breakfast and snacks independently, but a shared apartment is used as the common area for all residents and dinner is eaten together. Some times are not supervised by staff, but residents are supported by the ambient assisted living system installed by Loxone: e.g. night lighting is activated as soon as the residents put their feet out of bed and accompany them on their way to the toilet with dimmed light; if the apartment key is removed, the power sources in the room switch off, in the event of smoke development or water ingress, an alarm is triggered and the supporting staff is notified.
Level of innovation:
The best practice example was chosen after a primary data analysis, which revealed the range of services and the heterogeneous structure of service providers in Austria. This project was chosen as a best-practice example out of 1.200 cases in Austria. The examined ambient assisted living project is one out of two pilot projects in the housing area offered by a service provider. To gain a deeper understanding of how the installed ambient assisted living system can support residents, the applied qualitative analysis is based on document analysis, participatory observation and expert interviews with residents of the smart homes and their supporting staff.
Speaker(s):
Melanie Schaur (JKU Linz)