More than 1 in 4 people 65 and older fall each year, leading to more than $50 billion in annual spending for treatment. This cost is on an upward trajectory. We have less understanding of the impact of falls and risk in the Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latino population. Although a variety of community-based public health programs are addressing fall prevention, these programs are in English and are not effectively translated and delivered to culturally diverse communities. The Hispanic American population age 65 and over was 4 million in 2016 and is projected to grow to 19.9 million by 2060 or 21% of that total age group. Elderly Hispanics in this specific population frequently fall and are worried about falling. Exercise programs can reduce fall risk for older adults by improving muscle strength, balance, and gait instabilities. Fall prevention programs are encouraged by the CDC, NIA, and many other organizations, and are often provided by community-based organization sand other institutions. Barriers to offering Spanish speaking exercise programs include difficulty in finding qualified instructors who speak Spanish and many age 60 and over are typically unaware of proper exercise regimens. KINIMA Seniors in Spanish aims to reduce fall risk in the Hispanic population through the use of its novel mobile assistive technology for fall prevention. KINIMA Inc., is a women-owned company incorporated in 2016 and incubated in both University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Venture Initiative Program and Stanford University's StartX and commercially offered. KINIMA Seniors in Spanish is a ground-breaking, novel technology that uses computer vision with no on-body sensors, an innovative side-by-side view through augmented reality guidance with proprietary content, body joint tracking and artificial intelligence, plus multiple forms of feedback to provide a digital 2-way comprehensive fall prevention exercise platform. The proposed Phase I study seeks to determine the KINIMA Seniors in Spanish mobile phone motion tracking platform's feasibility, acceptability, and accuracy to support fall prevention in Hispanic/Latino settings. To that end, project AIMS are: 1) Evaluate KINIMA Seniors in Spanish acceptability, engagement and capability for subjects to complete sessions with little or no intervention by human staff; 2) determine specific forms of content and features that best promote the desired physical movement among the targeted populations; and 3) determine the effectiveness of the KINIMA Seniors in Spanish technology for automated tracking of participant movement. The KINIMA automated assessments will be compared against tracking by a human, which is the approach taken by most clinicians today to assess fall risk. These AIMS support the mission and research priorities of reducing falls and fall risk among Spanish-speaking seniors. This Phase I study is a major milestone and allows the project study group to assess user acceptability of the features and effectiveness of the automated measures. Phase II will determine the efficacy of the platform in improving fall risk outcomes through measuring progress over time.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Fall prevention represents a public health priority, afflicting 1 in 4 senior adults at a cost of over $50 billion annually, and lead to declines in quality of life and inability to age in place for many older adults,yet the vast majority of community-based public health programs are in English and are not effectively translated and delivered to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latino population. Existing fall prevention modalities can be labor intensive, difficult to scale, inaccessible to certain underserved populations,and difficult to track adherence and outcomes, creating an opportunity for a technology-enabled Spanish language fall prevention platform to improve access, adherence, and ultimately the trifecta off all prevention: strength, balance, and gait improvement. KINIMA Seniors in Spanish provides a mobile assistive technology for fall prevention in older adults, leveraging computer vision, augmented reality,robust content, automated data collection, and a novel user interface in a revolutionary cost-effective approach to greatly scale and commercialize this technology-powered platform for fall prevention activities, with the ultimate goal of improved health outcomes, fewer injuries among those aging at home, enhanced good health and higher quality of later life.
Project Terms: 21+ years old; Adult Human; adulthood; Adult; ages; Age; advanced age; elders; geriatric; late life; later life; older adult; older person; senior citizen; Elderly; Aging; Artificial Intelligence; AI system; Computer Reasoning; Machine Intelligence; Body Weight; Communication; Communities; Computer Vision Systems; computer vision; Dancing; Data Collection; Dedications; Elements; Equilibrium; balance; balance function; Exercise; Family; Feedback; Gait; Goals; Health; Hispanic Americans; Human; Modern Man; Interview; Joints; Language; Manuals; Mission; Motion; Movement; body movement; Music; Persons; Pennsylvania; Public Health; Quality of life; QOL; Questionnaires; Recommendation; Risk; Self-Help Devices; Assistive Technology; assisted device; assistive device; Computer software; Software; Surveys; Survey Instrument; Target Populations; Technology; Testing; Time; Translating; Universities; Weight; weights; Woman; Friends; Measures; falls; Family member; Hispanic; Latino; preventing falls; Fall prevention; Married Persons; Spouses; Friction; injuries; Injury; improved; Site; Area; Phase; Lifting; Respondent; bilingual; bilingualism; tool; Research Priority; Tai Ji; T'ai Chi; Tai Chi; Tai Chi Chih; Tai Chi Chuan; Tai Ji Quan; Tai Qi; TaiChi; Taiji; Taijiquan; programs; Side; System; muscle strength; interest; instructor; preference; age group; human old age (65+); 65+ years old; Aged 65 and Over; age 65 and greater; age 65 and older; aged 65 and greater; aged â¥65; old age; Structure; novel; Participant; Prevention program; new technology; novel technologies; Modality; social; Intervention; Intervention Strategies; interventional strategy; Cell Phone; Cellular Telephone; Mobile Phones; iPhone; smart phone; smartphone; Cellular Phone; Leg; fall risk; Institution; Effectiveness; Incubated; Address; Adherence; Data; Improve Access; Qualifying; Collection; Validation; validations; cost; digital; under served group; under served individual; under served people; under served population; underserved group; underserved individual; underserved people; Underserved Population; determine efficacy; efficacy analysis; efficacy assessment; efficacy determination; efficacy examination; evaluate efficacy; examine efficacy; efficacy evaluation; Outcome; cost effective; Population; innovate; innovative; innovation; community based organizations; community organizations; usability; commercialization; community setting; public health priorities; Phase I Study; phase 1 study; Augmented Reality; Exercise routine; exercise regimen; fitness program; exercise program; body sensor; body worn sensor; wearable biosensor; wearable sensor; wearable sensor technology; age in place; aging in place; assess effectiveness; determine effectiveness; effectiveness assessment; evaluate effectiveness; examine effectiveness; effectiveness evaluation; Predicting Risk; forecasting risk; predict risk; predict risks; predicted risk; predicted risks; predicting risks; predictive risk; predicts risk; risk predictions; risk prediction; homes; Home; Latino Population; Latino group; Latino individual; Latino people; Latinos; Hispanic Populations; Hispanic group; Hispanic individual; Hispanic people; Hispanics
