(IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2019 A Survey on Wandering Behavior Management Systems for Individuals with Dementia Arshia Zernab Hassan 1 Computer Science Department University of Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota, USA Arshia Khan 2 Computer Science Department University of Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota, USA Abstract—Alzheimer’s and related dementia are associated with a gradual decline in cognitive abilities of an individual, impairing independent living abilities. Wandering, a purposeless disoriented locomotion tendency or behavior of dementia patients, requires constant caregiver supervision to reduce the risk of phys- ical harm to patients. Integrating technology into care ecology has the potential to alleviate stress and expense. An automatic wandering detection system integrated with an intervention mod- ule may provide warnings and assistive suggestions in times of abnormal behavior. In this study, we survey existing research on technology aided methodologies and algorithms used in detection and management of wandering behavior of individuals affected with dementia. Our study provides insights into mechanisms of collecting movement data and finding patterns that distinguish wandering from normal behavior. Keywords—Dementia; wandering behavior; technology; algo- rithm; I. I NTRODUCTION Dementia is a neuro-degenerative disease that decreases independence. Dementia affects the lives of ∼ 47 million people worldwide [1], which is estimated to increase to 131.5 million in 2050. According to the Alzheimer’s report from 2016, around 5.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s dementia resulting in medical expense (professional caregiver and treatment cost) of $259 billion. Family members (unpaid, unprofessional caregivers) spend 18.2 billion hours per year amounting to $230.1 billion [2]. Dementia is sometimes revealed through ‘wandering’, which is a pervasive behavioral symptom in dementia patients [3]. It is defined as “a syndrome of dementia-related loco- motion behavior having a frequent, repetitive, temporally dis- ordered, and/or spatially-disoriented nature that is manifested in lapping, random, and/or pacing patterns, some of which are associated with eloping, eloping attempts, or getting lost unless accompanied” [4]. It may be triggered by various factors such as frustration, the intent for socialization or work, boredom or escaping tendencies [3]; however, it is quite unforeseeable and therefore requires supervision for detection and arbitration. Unattended aimless roaming of a patient may lead to agitation, fatigue, vertigo and in extreme cases physical harm due to falling or colliding with objects in the vicinity [2]. Moreover, wandering has been identified as one of the main reasons for nursing home placement or institutionalization [5], as it has proven to be too arduous for caregivers to manage in home environments. Technological intervention, for detection and mediation of wandering behavior, would share the load of human labor and may also improve the privacy and independence of the patient. For example, an automatic wandering detection module can be integrated with an intervention module (i.e. for generating alert signals) to build a real-time system to produce prompt warnings [6]. This would help in reducing immediate health hazards associated with the aimless movement. Additionally, wandering behavior is correlated with the cognitive state of a dementia patient. Automatically generated records of wandering frequency and patterns would aid in keeping track of patients’ cognitive health. As mentioned before, wandering behavior requires a considerable amount of caregiver vigilance; an automated technological solution has the potential to lower caregiver burden as well as medical cost. A comprehensive survey or review on technological in- terventions for wandering management would contribute to research efforts in computation and cognitive health sectors and create a platform for future studies. As a precursor to for- mulating a robust algorithm for detecting wandering behavior, a survey on existing systems, would help delineate practical and effective approaches along with limitations, disclosing opportunities for future research. With that view, we selected several literature and investigated what attributes are incorpo- rated in various systems to address wandering management. We draw an overview of the systems, focusing on technolo- gies employed, underlying strategies or algorithms, scenarios or system goals and searched for overlapping or common grounds, along with challenges inferred from experimental results. We are going to list the technologies proposed or utilized in existing literature as well as real world devices. The subsequent chapters elaborate on the above- mentioned points. While section II summarizes the methodologies of literature selection, Sections III and IV mentions the individu- als and scenarios the systems are designed around. Sections V, VI, VII, and VIII consists of a survey on proposed or existing systems for wandering detection or management, built for indoor and outdoor scenarios, addressing various forms of wandering. Finally, we conclude in Section X, preceded by a discussion in Section IX. II. SEARCH METHODOLOGIES In this study, we aimed to gain insights on current method- ologies of technological intervention and related challenges in the domain of wandering management, which will pro- vide platform for future design opportunities. We selected www.ijacsa.thesai.org 531 | Page