Antonio Miguel-Cruz is an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Waterloo and an assistant lecturer and program evaluator at the University of Alberta as well as the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. He is an engineer and his research focuses on development and assessment, and user adoption of technologies for rehabilitation assessments and interventions, and ways technologies can help older adults and family caregivers.
Miguel Cruz is currently developing a usability/technology acceptance scale for wayfinding technologies for older adults with dementia at risk of getting lost. In addition, he is working in the design, development, and validation of a home-centered sensor and voice-based intelligent personal-assistant platform to manage frailty in older adults. (i.e. measure, monitor, and prevent frailty). His long-term goal is to implement a platform to:
- Identify hidden vulnerabilities, create evidence-based frailty-prevention recommendations (e.g., lifestyle, nutrition) for older adults, their families, and healthcare professionals to strengthen “anti-frailty” activities (e.g. motor, cognitive, etc.) through the delivery of personalized treatment interventions (e.g., computer serious games, monitoring alerts, guidance and education).
- To determine the impact of these interventions on healthcare outcomes (e.g. hospitalizations, medication, costs, quality of life, etc.).