The system was developed at Ben Gurion University and will be presented tomorrow at an entrepreneurs' conference
A unique computer system for supporting reminiscence therapy in Alzheimer's patients was developed by students at the Faculty of Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
This is a computer system intended for use by patients, their families and their caregivers. The system, developed by the students Moshe Barel and Yoni Epstein, under the guidance of Ms. Verdit Sarna-Fleishman and Dr. Noam Traktinsky, from the Department of Information Systems Engineering, is the result of a collaboration with the Hayom Center at the Psycho-Geriatric Institute at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv .
The purpose of the project is to contribute to improving the quality of patients' lives through computerized support using the accepted therapeutic approach of encouraging patients to recall and talk about their memories. The system allows the presentation in different ways, such as pictures, sound clips and text, of information items related to patients, emphasizing the possibility of integrating topics that are personally related to their life course.
"Due to the special cognitive problems typical of the intended user group and the little experience they have with computers," says Dr. Traktinsky, "emphasis was placed on developing a simple and clear user interface that includes a touch screen as the only means of input in the system. In addition, the caregivers and family members can operate the system for the patients without any prior knowledge or training."
According to the facilitators, the system was developed in stages, where at each stage the system was evaluated by disease experts, therapists, family members and the patients themselves. After each step, corrections and updates were made to the system according to the feedback received. In the final stage, the system was tested with the participation of five patients and their caregivers, and received very positive reactions.
This project will be presented as part of a project conference of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences which will be held at the university this coming Wednesday (June 14.6.2006, 500). About XNUMX innovative projects prepared by fourth year students in the various departments of the faculty will be presented at the conference. It should be noted that this year final projects will be presented by students from the first cohort of the Department of Civil Engineering. The research and development (RD) representatives of the leading companies in the Israeli economy will attend the project conference, as part of leveraging entrepreneurship and exposing students and projects to industry.
