An artificial ‘warm hand’ created by researchers at the University of Antwerp may help dementia patients feel secure at night. The hand is one of six tools in a toolbox that can help residents of residential care facilities get a better night’s sleep. As a product developer, Witse Beyers recently received her degree. She created a toolkit for her master’s thesis that addresses a variety of dementia patients’ sleep problems. One in three people with dementia are thought to experience sleeplessness.
The toolbox allows each citizen to establish a successful, personalised strategy to deal with evening disturbance, according to Beyers. The toolbox also includes wireless surveillance and detection modules that alert healthcare professionals to patient nocturnal disturbance. ‘Moreover, it is a cheap technique that does not entail medicine or constraints on mobility,’ says the author. ‘You can use the components singly or together’.
A helping hand
The most noticeable instrument is a ‘warm hand’ that eases the sufferer’s loneliness and lack of skin touch. Beyers says that by simulating a hand-in-hand effect, it gives the user a sense of security.
The device operates by heating up and activating pressure receptors in the resident’s fingers and hand. Beyers described it as a straightforward tool made of soft, flexible, and easily washable materials. ‘Healthcare professionals understand that holding a resident’s hand can truly promote peace, but they themselves do not have the opportunity to do so on a regular basis’.
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