Enabling implementation decisions. Assessing the effectiveness of AAL: the case of EvAALuation and MAFEIP (joint session AAL/EIP on AHA) 

Theme 1
Wednesday 25 September 16:00-17:30
Room: Nortvegia

The decision whether to implement an AAL solution should ideally be based on scientifically validated evidence and proof of the effectiveness of AAL technologies.

A variety of perspectives are relevant: There is the question of whether a solution will benefit the quality of life of older adults, but also questions of far-reaching social effects, potential benefits for the social and the health care system and economic profitability and cost-effectiveness have to be considered.

The complexity of implementation decisions contrasts with the fact that so far only a few AAL-specific instruments for proof of effectiveness exist. Moreover, evaluation results are hardly comparable since there is often no common understanding of the constructs to be measured.

This results in the need for a mutual understanding regarding striven impacts for implementation decisions as well as suitable measuring instruments.

EvAALuation² (funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) within the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) programme “benefit”) aimed to develop such AAL-specific instruments.

In addition, AAL could benefit from the Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing” (MAFEIP) supported by the EC. MAFEIP is a web-based tool whose purpose is to estimate the health and economic outcomes of a large variety of ICT enabled social and health innovations, supporting evidence-based decision-making processes for all institutions and users in the health and care sector. More info at www.mafeip.eu.

Objectives:

This workshop aims at providing an overview of important impact dimensions of AAL solutions relevant for implementation decisions. To enable evidence-based decisions, practices, challenges, and lessons learned of impact measurements will be discussed, including the usage of cost

Speakers:

• Julia Himmelsbach (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)
• Markus Garschall (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)
• Robert Ofner (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)
• Johannes Oberzaucher (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)
• Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva (Professor & Researcher, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)