ABSTRACT
People with dementia can be especially vulnerable to feeling lonely, due to declining cognitive and social functioning. Typically, psychosocial interventions are used to address loneliness among people with dementia. However, they rarely offer personalised solutions that fit the needs and preferences of this group. Literature suggests that assistive technologies might be supportive in delivering personalised psychosocial interventions. In this chapter, we discuss the most promising assistive technologies addressing loneliness in dementia, how widespread their use is in Europe, and some of the hurdles of implementing them in nursing homes. This chapter presents the results of two studies, a scoping review and an online survey. With our scoping review, we were able to identify two types of assistive technology addressing loneliness in people with dementia: social robots and multimedia computer systems. Additionally, in our European online survey of European Alzheimer Associations, they commented that from their perspective, the social robot PARO was the most researched and most familiar assistive technology among staff in nursing homes. Overall, we concluded that assistive technologies have the potential to address loneliness but customization is required to address the needs and capabilities of people with dementia.
