Advisory on ambient assisted living solutions: towards an advisor concept and training curriculum

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions have opened up a market of service provision for older adults and their caregivers. Insufficient public awareness and end-user involvement on AAL solutions have been influencing the market negatively. Advisory services on AAL solutions are a promising strategy to address those challenges but those are typically missing, provided at a very small scale or by the providers in the context of sales activities. This study aims to identify the prospective benefits of an advisor on AAL solutions, as well as the profile, knowledge and skills required for this role and training preferences. A qualitative study was performed resorting to workshops and interviews with AAL stakeholders to collect data. A comprehensive literature review was carried out to identify experiences and practices on education for AAL advisors. Both data were subjected to a content analysis. Findings were used to define and refine the concept of Authorised Active Advisors, resulting in a clarification of its added-value, on the definition of advisor profiles, as well as on a list of skills and knowledge required. Training preferences revealed by the participants together with the literature analysis, feed a training concept presented in this paper. Finally, the training objectives, contents, learning outcomes and learning/teaching methods are defined and a training hub mock-up is shown. The preferred training modality is based on a blended-learning approach.