ABLE: An Arts-Based, Interactive Physical Therapy Platform for Seniors with Dementia and Frailty

ABLE is a gesture-based interactive platform that transforms physical therapy into game play or art creation – for example, virtual painting or digital music creation. ABLE targets older adults with dementia and fragility, employing art and gaming to encourage playful, physical interactions with family members, peers and care providers. The project aims to forge synergy between physical interaction and creative engagement to produce a range of positive effects; the platform aims to reduce boredom, agitation and social isolation while enhancing physiological, affective and cognitive health. Our interdisciplinary team of medical and health scientists, computer scientists, humanities scholars and artists together contribute the aptitudes required to develop ABLE with attention to the specific needs of these users, to design wearable biometric sensors for data capture, and to develop the app in a consumer-friendly interface appropriate for independent use in residences and homes. We are also developing ABLE with physical therapists, to create a menu of scalable physical therapy exercises designed to enhance strength, balance, and agility for variable populations with frailty and dementia presenting with low to severe impairments. As well, we are co-developing the platform with a range of participants (hospital patients, supported housing residents and home residents) to ensure that the experiences are pleasurable and encourage sustained use of over time. Offering a host of physiological, affective and social engagement benefits, ABLE aims to assist older adults, as they age, to stay mobile, active, and engaged with community and the people they love.