The MONUMENT project

What is MONUMENT?

The MONUMENT (MOre NUrturing and More Empowerment Nested in Technology) project aims to relieve the burden of the informal caregivers of people living with dementia. The goal is to make their lives easier through professional and structural support. Additionally, MONUMENT wants to facilitate the use of tailored technological solutions.

The overall objective of the project is to enable people living with dementia to stay at home longer. How? Based on the Odense houses model, it aims to:

• increase the coping skills of caregivers
• enhance the quality of their relationships with the patients
• improve their mutual well-being

3 Years (01/02/2020 - 31/03/2023) several European partners bundled their knowledge and expertise with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Involvement of imec and results

Imec was mainly involved in testing and co-creating technological applications.

MeMo platform

During the project, an online knowledge-sharing platform was developed - MeMo by MONUMENT - to support and connect informal caregivers of people living with dementia. On this platform, information about dementia and tips from other caregivers are shared, you learn what technology tools are on the market today and discover dementia-friendly activities in the neighborhood.

Accessible technology for and with informal caregivers

Although assistive technologies are already available to help people with dementia in their daily tasks, often those technologies are little known and/or are of limited use over time (as the needs of people with dementia rapidly evolve). To change this, the MONUMENT pilot partners compiled a selection of existing technologies that informal caregivers believe effectively add value. The pilot partners did this under imec's guidance using the Innovatrix methodology - a methodology developed by imec to best align innovative solutions with "real-world" situations and thus maximize their societal impact. The technologies were then demonstrated and evaluated by informal caregivers.

Remote monitoring prototype

From imec's user survey, it was found that informal caregivers showed interest primarily in monitoring functions such as activity, location, and sleep. Location tracking of the person with dementia through a smartwatch was therefore coupled with a system for sharing calendars and information among caregivers. When an unusual behavior is detected by the application, a notification with a temporary link to the current location is sent to a predetermined contact.

Want to try it out for yourself? Visit the web application and get started. For an optimal user experience, the code of the remote monitoring prototype was made publicly available. That way, the prototype can be adapted to your needs and preferences.

During the closing event on February 10, 2023, in Technopolis Mechelen (Belgium), all partners gathered and presented their research results.

Want to read more?

The prior state of the art study can be found here.

A detailed report on the development of the remote monitoring prototype can be found here.