Realization pathway
encouraging the application of humour between informal caregivers and people with dementia
Information
Author: Van der Hout, M.
Contributor: Van Boeijen, A.G.C., Goossens, R.H.M.
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Department: Integrated Product Design
Programme: Master of Integrated Product Design Specialization: Medisign
Type: Master thesis
Date: 18-12-2009
Keywords: Elderly |Physical activity | Context mapping | Acceptance | Technology
Abstract
This report presents the Graduation Project: “Mediator tool to increase the acceptance of technologies among seniors”. The project is the culmination of the MSc Programme in Design for Interaction at the Faculty of Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology.
Several technologies have been developed to support seniors to live independently at home by enabling them to stay active and productive for longer, to keep a good health, to maintain social networks or to increase personal security to give some examples. Even though technologies to enable an independent living exist, seniors still face barriers in exploiting such technologies to their full potential.
The report presents a tool to increase the acceptance of technologies for independent living among seniors. The focus was on motivating seniors to interact with technologies through a tool that is an intermediate step among seniors and technologies. The mediator tool should be implemented before seniors had the first contact with the technology and would encourage them to interacting with it. At the same time the mediator tool should be external to the technology itself.
An innovative technology that supports seniors independent living based on a TV platform, the Care@Home system, was taken as case study. The graduation project was supported by one of the stakeholders in the development of the Care@home system, the Interactive Intelligence Group of Delft University of technology.
In a literature research, factors that influence the acceptance of technologies were studied. Analysis of qualitative interviews among seniors was done to further explore the factors that influence the acceptance of technologies for independent living in a real context. The research indicated that seniors are motivated to accept new technologies when the clearly perceive the benefits that they can provide into own lives. The goal of the project was on arise awareness about possible gains to be obtained through the use of the technology by enabling seniors to discover by themselves if they could benefit from such technology. The mediator tool is a communication tool to go beyond informing seniors the gains that they could obtain; it allows seniors to create their own experience. This goal was used to develop design ideas. Three ideas were presented to seniors to research what elements of the designs would motivate them to encounter for the first time a technology for independent living. Seniors feedback was used to identify areas of opportunity for the mediator tool. It was found that seniors are motivated by trying new technologies in familiar social settings where they can interact with peers. These two elements were incorporated in the design concept, the Realization Pathway.
In order to verify if the Realization Pathway reached its goal, enabling seniors to discover by themselves if they could benefit from a technology for independent living, a prototype was built and tested among nine seniors. The prototype was a low-tech version of the design concept developed that emulated the intended interactions.
The participant in the user test confirmed the value of the design:
The Realization Pathway aroused awareness about the possibilities of technologies for independent living.
The Realization Pathway enabled to gain knowledge and then decide if one can benefit from the technology or not.
The Realization Pathway enabled to meet a new technology in an positive social experience.
A larger study with a diverse group of seniors with diverse needs is necessary. Most of participants recognized the gains that they could get but did not think that they could benefit from the technology. Participants value to be aware about what new technologies offer and the social side of the experience provided by the Realization Pathway. These preliminary findings suggest that using communication tools in social familiar settings could motivate seniors to approach technologies for independent living.
