Andrea Taylor

Group pulmonary rehabilitation delivered to the home via the internet: feasibility and patient perception

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common and debilitating lung condition. Pulmonary rehabilitation is effective in treating COPD. Rehabilitation, combining physical exercise with education, is usually undertaken in hospital or clinic-based groups led by a clinician. The support of the group is important. However, distance of travel, and mobility and transport problems can mean that patients are unable to participate. This paper describes a feasibility study to deliver a program to a group of patients in their own homes, improving accessibility. A novel videoconferencing system was installed in four patients homes, connected to their TV and the Internet. A physiotherapist delivered a pulmonary rehabilitation program, involving twice-weekly exercise sessions for eight weeks. All were visible and audible to maintain the group-based approach of the conventional program. The technology performed well, satisfaction was high, and clinical improvements occurred in all patients, comparable to a conventional program. Larger studies are warranted.

TeleWEAR: engaging users and suppliers of telecare in product design

Telecare is the remote or enhanced delivery of care services to people in their own home or community setting using ICT. Telecare is expected to play an important role in addressing some of the challenges of an ageing population. However, products are often unsatisfactory and a major contributing factor is that suppliers do not typically involve users in design processes. This paper describes a participatory design project involving 25 designers, 6 service users, 11 potential future service users and 2 telecare suppliers: six concept designs were created for a wearable alarm button in two half-day workshops. Our main contribution is to present the design features considered most important to users, which can be incorporated into future product designs and inform other wearable alarm systems for older people. As a result of the project, a leading supplier has invited users to participate in their research and development activities for the first time.

A practical review of energy saving technology for ageing populations

Fuel poverty is a critical issue for a globally ageing population. Longer heating/cooling requirements combine with declining incomes to create a problem in need of urgent attention. One solution is to deploy technology to help elderly users feel informed about their energy use, and empowered to take steps to make it more cost effective and efficient. This study subjects a broad cross section of energy monitoring and home automation products to a formal ergonomic analysis. A high level task analysis was used to guide a product walk through, and a toolkit approach was used thereafter to drive out further insights. The findings reveal a number of serious usability issues which prevent these products from successfully accessing an important target demographic and associated energy saving and fuel poverty outcomes. Design principles and examples are distilled from the research to enable practitioners to translate the underlying research into high quality design-engineering solutions.

Developing hospice care over a distance in highland Scotland: a knowledge exchange process

This paper describes a piece of collaborative research that aimed to develop an implementation plan for a virtual hospice. The aim of the virtual hospice in this case is to extend the reach of hospice facilities provided by the Highland Hospice in Inverness, Scotland. We chose a knowledge exchange process that included Hospice staff at every step. We began with a workshop that scoped out all of the potential virtual hospice services, which were condensed into a core set of five services. We then conducted interviews with selected Hospice staff. The final step involved presenting our recommendations to the Hospice, including a storyboard of how the virtual hospice might operate in practice. We took the Hospices feedback and incorporated it into a final report. Overall, we feel that the knowledge exchange process generated a more accurate and realistic implementation plan.

A Home Health Monitoring System Designed to Support Carers in Their Caring Role

In the UK, a ‘carer’ is someone who, unpaid, looks after a family member, friend or partner who could not manage without them because of frailness, illness or disability. In this paper, we present research on the role of the carer, and describe why it is important to consider carers in the design of new healthcare technology to support people to self care. By self care, we mean supporting people to take more control and responsibility for their own health and well-being. Our contribution is a set of design guidelines for new home monitoring technology. Our guidelines are distilled from a survey distributed to carers in Moray, North East Scotland on sharing health information and a follow-up discussion at a carers forum. We used these guidelines to design a new home monitoring system. The main difference with current systems is that data is primarily shared between carer and cared-for, rather than health professional and patient, and carers are encouraged to use the system to monitor their own health.

Developing design principles for a Virtual Hospice: improving access to care

Objectives Providing access to hospice services will become increasingly difficult due to the pressures of an ageing population and limited resources. To help address this challenge, a small number of services called Virtual Hospice have been established. This paper presents early-stage design work on a Virtual Hospice to improve access to services provided by a hospice (Highland Hospice) serving a largely remote and rural population in Scotland, UK. Methods The study was structured as a series of Experience Labs with Highland Hospice staff, healthcare professionals and patients. Experience Labs employ a participatory design approach where participants are placed at the centre of the design process, helping to ensure that the resultant service meets their needs. Data from the Experience Labs were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis and design analysis. Results A number of themes and barriers to accessing Highland Hospice services were identified. In response, an initial set of seven design principles was developed. Design principles are high-level guidelines that are used to improve prioritisation and decision making during the design process by ensuring alignment with research insights. The design principles were piloted with a group of stakeholders and gained positive feedback. Conclusions The design principles are intended to guide the ongoing development of the Highland Hospice Virtual Hospice. However, the challenges faced by Highland Hospice in delivering services in a largely remote and rural setting are not unique. The design principles, encompassing digital and non-digital guidelines, or the design approach could be applied by other hospices in the UK or overseas.

Exploring the Potential of Home Energy Monitors for Transactive Energy Supply Arrangements

There has been considerable investment in micro energy generation from both domestic consumers and small-scale providers. However, current metering arrangements and home energy monitoring products are too basic to enable real-time billing and remuneration, limiting the effectiveness of this investment. This paper describes the exploration of home energy monitors as a technical enabler to unlock the local trading potential of the investment in micro energy generation, and the human factors involved in interacting with these products that might pose obstacles to successful uptake. First, a human factors analysis of eight home energy monitors was conducted, which identified a number of usability issues. Next, a range of design concepts were developed to address the key usability problems identified, incorporate the forward-looking facility for alternative energy supply models, and stimulate further investment in energy prosumption. This study contributes an understanding of the potential of home energy monitors for transactive energy supply arrangements.

Promoting mental wellbeing in young people aged 12--18 years: opportunities for design

Young people with poor mental health are more likely to have poor educational attainment, employment prospects and physical health, and mental health problems often persist into adulthood. Mental health promotion aims to elevate levels of mental wellbeing while protecting against its loss and reducing the prevalence of mental health problems. The delivery of and access to mental health promotion has evolved over recent years. This research explored the area of technology for promoting mental wellbeing in young people. The research was in two parts: focus groups with 34 young people aged 12--18 years, which identified a preference for digital sources of support; and a review of 14 apps and websites for supporting 12--18 year olds to promote their mental wellbeing, which identified significant shortfalls. The main contribution to HCI is new insights and opportunities for design to support young people aged 12--18 years to promote their mental wellbeing.

BodyGuard: A Case Study of Telecare Product Innovation and Development

Telecare is personal and environmental sensors that support people to remain safe and independent in their own home for longer. Telecare plays an important role in addressing the challenges of an ageing population. However, many people do not wear the most common form provided, the community alarm, for reasons that include the way that it looks. In the UK, a contributing factor to this problem is that manufacturers cater to telecare service providers (e.g. local authorities) and as a result, service users are not involved in design processes. This paper describes a redesign of the community alarm by a leading manufacturer, involving participatory design activities with users and the wider public, and design internships. The main innovation of the new community alarm, called BodyGuard, is that it connects with the users smartphone to enable it to work outside the home. We report insights and lessons learned during the innovation process, within the context of social care reforms giving people more control and choice over the services that they receive.