Henk Herman Nap

“I work consistently to develop, improve and validate healthcare-related technologies and services. In particular, for people who have problems using it due to experience, age or illness.”

To keep long-term care accessible and affordable, it is important to continue to innovate. I see the future of eHealth in healthcare-related (mobile) apps, serious gaming, robotics and similar areas. eHealth must be a proven technology that has been thoroughly researched in evaluation and studies.

Senior Researcher

At Vilans, I coordinate the GUARDIAN Active and Assisted Living (AAL) research project on social robotics for people with dementia and (in)formal carers, the eWare AAL project on lifestyle monitoring and social robotics for people with dementia and their (in) formal carers, the MagicTABLE project (ToverTafel), and other AAL projects such as Palette and FreeWalker as a work-package manager of co-design and user evaluation.

I hold a visiting research position at the Human-Technology Interaction group at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and have a background in cognitive ergonomics, with a MSc degree in Psychology (Utrecht University), a PhD in Gerontechnology, and a Postdoc on senior gamers from the TU/e. I have worked on multiple EU development projects on eHealth, seniors and gaming, fall prevention & detection, interoperability and integrated care; and have coordinated many private sector projects in the field of domotics and smart living, eHealth, and the EU STOPandGO project (H2020).

For the client, promoting self-sufficiency is extremely important and as people differ, it is necessary to map behaviour and personalise eHealth technologies and services where possible in order to provide tailor-made support. Social and motivational aspects also play an important role in the use of eHealth. How do we ensure that people want to and continue to use it? My knowledge of social and behavioral psychology helps with this. eHealth must be a collaborative effort if we are to maintain continuity and quality in long-term care.

Specialities

• eHealth
• Gerontechnology
• Usability
• Human-Technology Interaction
• Ethnography
• Web design
• Smart Living
• Cognitive Ergonomics
• Statistics and Methodology
• AAL
• Serious Gaming
• Scientific Writing

Achievements

• Many years of experience in guiding and coordinating implementation, evaluation and validation research in the field of eHealth, home automation (smart homes), games for health and Ambient Assisted Living.
• >15 projects for e.g. AAL (Active Assisted Living) Programme, the Netherlands Ministry of Health and ZonMw in the field of long-term care policy, eHealth.
• >10 European projects on Smart Homes (AAL, CIP & FP7), of which 4 on health technologies and eHealth, 4 as a coordinator.
• Lead coordinator for European and international projects, such as GUARDIAN, eWARE and MagicTABLE and other supportive technologies for people with dementia.
• Subject-expert and speaker at (Inter)national conferences, workshops and (scientific) publications.
• International network on eHealth, long-term care, eHealth, serious gaming and domotics. Responsible for the marketing and exploitation of European projects, such as CAALYX-MV, LEAGE and Netcarity.
• Graduated in 2008 from Gerontechnology, Postdoc in senior gamers and Project Coordinator of a European eHealth procurement and implementation project.

Recent International Publications

2020

• Søraa, R.A., Fosch-Villaronga, E., Quintas, J., Dias, J., Tøndel, G., Sørgaard, J., Nyvoll, P., Nap, H.H. & Serrano, J.A. (2020). Mitigating isolation and loneliness with technology through emotional care by social robots in remote. Mobile Technologies for Delivering Healthcare in Remote, Rural Or Developing Regions, p.255.
• Casaccia, S., Revel, G.M., Scalise, L., Bevilacqua, R., Rossi, L., Serrano, A., Karkowski, I., Marconi, F., Suijkerbuijk, S., Lukkien, D., & Nap, H.H. (2020). A context-aware social robot to improve the quality of life of people with dementia. Gerontechnology 19(0), 1-1, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.19.s.69926
• Nap, H.H., Buimer, H., & Wouters, E. (2020). Value-Based eHealth: Lifestyle Monitoring. Gerontechnology, 19(0), 1-1, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.19.s.70142
• Suijkerbuijk, S., Abdel Alim, L., Bevilacqua, R., Felici., E.., Rossi, L., Casaccia, S., Scalise., L., Pollini, A., Swaminathan, S., Nap, H.H., & Astell A. (2020). How do people living with subjective cognitive impairments want to get support in resilience? Gerontechnology, 19(0), 1-1, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.19.s.69949
• Buimer, H.P., Cornelisse, L., Nap, H.H., (2020). Moving safely, living independently: The co-creation of FreeWalker. Gerontechnology, 19(0), 1-1, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.19.s.69958
• Lukkien, D.R.M., S. Suijkerbuijk & H.H. Nap. (2020). Adopting an ethical mindset while developing and using ‘smart’ gerontechnology in long-term care. Gerontechnology, 19(0), 1-1, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.19.s.69950
• Suijkerbuijk, S., Weegen van der, S., Nap, H.H. (2020). Senioren en technologie: een scala aan mogelijkheden en ontwikkelingen. Geron, 22(3).
• Szilas, N., Andkjaer, K.I., Kemp, L., Ricci, A., Dadema, T., Nap, H.H. & Ehrler, F. (2020). Designing a Senior Friendly Interface for a Personalized 3D Narrative Simulation. Foundations of Digital Games 2020, (Bugibba, Malta, September 15-18), DOI: 10.1145/3402942.3403023
• Nap, H.H., Hoefman, R., de Jong, N. et al. (2020). The awareness, visibility and support for young carers across Europe: a Delphi study. BMC Health Services Research. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05780-8

2019

• Casaccia S., Revel G.M., Scalise, L., Bevilacqua, R., Rossi, L., Paauwe, R.A., Karkowski, I., Ercoli, I., Serrano, J.A., Suijkerbuijk, S., Lukkien, D. & Nap, H.H. (2019). Social Robot and Sensor Network in Support of Activity of Daily Living for People with Dementia. In: Brankaert R., IJsselsteijn W. (eds) Dementia Lab 2019. Making Design Work: Engaging with Dementia in Context. D-Lab 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1117. Springer.
• Suijkerbuijk, S, Nap, H.H., Cornelisse, L., IJsselsteijn, W.A., De Kort, Y., & Minkman, M.N. (2019). Active Involvement of People with Dementia: A Systematic Review of Studies Developing Supportive Technologies. Journal of Alzheimer’s disease: JAD 69(4):1-25. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-190050
• Nap, H.H., & Cornelisse, C. (2019). Zorgrobotica: geen science fiction meer. TVZ – Verpleegkunde in praktijk en wetenschap, 129(1), 20-23.
• Constantin, A., Lai, C., Farrow, E., Alex, B., Pel-Little, R., Nap, H.H., & Jeuring, J. (2019). “Why is the Doctor a Man”: Reactions of Older Adults to a Virtual Training Doctor. Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference. DOI: 10.1145/3290607.3312811