An initial study into the context of use of a web-based prognostics scoring system that supports the Aged Day-Care Service (ADCS) in Taiwan

After the ten years rise of ageing population in Taiwan, it has increased the population rate of elders to nearly 10% in year 2009. Since 1990, the day-time aged care service has been implemented over decades in Taiwan. The social welfare has been attended and been actively promoted among the communities with the aged day-care service (ADCS) in recent years. The successful implementation of the ADCS relies on the overwhelming supports from all stakeholders, i.e. instructors, their related families, directors of the organizations and leaders of local communities, but also to understand the emotional needs of elders, ethical care, responses to the self-esteem issues and practical care support exercises by the experienced aged carers. Since the ADCS must deliver relaxed and positive environments for groups of instructors and elders to interact with each other in order to achieve a sense of accomplishment. Thus, the elder´s needs must be known in prior of attending the ADCS which could continually improve the aged care service quality. This initial study aims to investigate the context of use of a Web-based prognostics scoring system among stakeholders in order to create a working prototype that provides useful information regarding elder´s emotional needs. The system will create a Web-based community among stakeholders in order to actively provide emotion status of specific elders to instructor, which allows instructor to give a special care to specific elders in the assigned ADCS. The prognostics scoring information can be gained based on the elders´ attendance rate, positive attitude toward the day-cared treatment, the objective performance of the exercises, and subjective assessment of the emotion scale, which is feed by both instructors, their related family and associated aged carers. It hopes that the design approach and the system and associated products could support a self-sustaining ADCS by the village community itself. Further recommendation will be made.