Monitoring children’s emotional and behavioural patterns via the use of wearable and external sensors tracking physiological and other forms of data.
Researchers
Research background
This project is in partnership with Sherlock HealthCare Services (SHS), who specialise in providing residential care and support to young people with emotional behavioural disorders, mild learning difficulties, and challenging/complex needs (ASD and ADHD).
Monitoring of activities and behaviour within a home is typically undertaken manually by SHS staff which has significant resource implications. Systems utilising a range of sensors to autonomously collect data can present opportunities for streamlining much of this process to further support the care of young people in residential homes.
However, there has been a lack of work to date investigating the potential of this approach in real-world environments.
Research aims
The project involves leading the design, development, and evaluation of a novel decision/behaviour support platform capable of collecting and visualising data from young people (based at SHS’ residential care homes) to facilitate the management of emotional behavioural disorders.
In particular, the project will be focusing on monitoring children’s emotional and behavioural patterns via the use of wearable and external sensors tracking physiological and other forms of data (e.g. sleep patterns, movement, heart rate, temperature, etc.).
A key research focus is around exploring how service users and other stakeholders perceive the usability and efficacy of the new system being developed as part of the project.
How is the research been carried out?
This research is currently ongoing with a view to publishing early findings and results in the near future.