NANA
Sheffield investigators
Professor Arlene Astell
Sheffield researcher
Dr Sarah Kate Smith
Partners
Bath Institute of Mechanical Engineering
University of Reading
University of St Andrews
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sheffield County Council
Sirona Care and Health
Funders
ESRC (New Dynamics of Ageing Programme)
NIHR CLAHRC YH
Sirona Foundation
About the project
NANA (Novel Assessment of Nutrition and Ageing) is a system that monitors the nutritional intake and cognitive function of older adults.
NANA is an easy to use touch screen assessment system for older adults. It was developed in partnership with older adults as a way for them to keep track of what they are eating and drinking. NANA also collects information on a person’s cognitive function, mood and physical activity to provide a holistic picture of their well-being. NANA has been developed for daily use by older people living in the community and validated against current gold standard measures.
Watch the video below about NANA: Novel Assessment of Nutrition and Ageing by Sort Of... Films on Vimeo.
The information collected by NANA is as good as any current pen and paper measures and has the advantage that collecting information every day can provide early detection of changes in a person's eating behaviour, cognitive function, mood or physical activity. In addition to early detection, NANA's daily assessment can provide a means of monitoring the impact of an intervention by providing information to the older person, their family and health and social care professionals.
We are currently undertaking feasibility trials with a number of health and social care services in Bath, Bradford and Sheffield to gain insights into how these services may want to use NANA to improve client care. The project in Sheffield is a result of NANA winning a place onto the prestigious Sheffield Smart Lab.
Dr Liz Williams and Professor Arlene Astell being presented with a Sheffield Smart Lab award.