Iyubanit Rodríguez

Helping Elderly Users Report Pain Levels: A Study of User Experience with Mobile and Wearable Interfaces

Pain is usually measured through patient reports during doctor visits, but it requires regular evaluation under real-life conditions to be resolved effectively. Over half of older adults suffer from pain. Chronic conditions such as this one may be monitored through technology; however, elderly users require technology to be specifically designed for them, because many have cognitive and physical limitations and lack digital skills. The purpose of this article is to study whether mobile or wearable devices are appropriate to self-report pain levels and to find which body position is more appropriate for elderly people to wear a device to self-report pain. We implemented three prototypes and conducted two phases of evaluation. We found that users preferred the wearable device over the mobile application and that a wearable to self-report pain should be designed specifically for this purpose. Regarding the placement of the wearable, we found that there was no preferred position overall, although the neck position received the most positive feedback. We believe that the possibility of creating a wearable device that may be placed in different positions may be the best solution to satisfy users’ individual preferences.

EmoBall: A Study on a Tangible Interface to Self-report Emotional Information Considering Digital Competences

Monitoring emotional information is highly complex: it is difficult to accurately register it due to subjectivity and technical complexities; and it is difficult to provide reliability and incorporate contextual information. However, it is an important problem in healthcare, since it is useful to monitor people, especially if they are at a high risk of depression or other mental illnesses. Research in affective computing seeks to generate new methodologies to help store, analyze and share this information. Several techniques have been proposed to monitor emotions. One of them is self-report, which is a subjective method of measuring emotions from the perspective of the individual. This work presents a new tangible interface to self-report emotions, called EmoBall, specifically designed for people with low digital competences, since it requires practically no previous knowledge of technology. We evaluated this interface and analyze the results of the evaluation, considering the digital skills of the interviewed users. We found EmoBall to be a promising first step towards a tangible interface to self-report emotions; however, we did not find evidence of digital competences affecting user perceptions of the device. This paper discusses our insights regarding the reasons for these results, as well as directions for future research.

Monitoring Chronic Pain: Comparing Wearable and Mobile Interfaces

Technologies to monitor patients are convenient for patients and can reduce health costs. Chronic pain is a pain that lasts more than 3 months and affects the welfare of patients. Pain is subjective and there are applications to self-report pain, but their adherence rates are low. The purpose of this article is the understanding of the characteristics of technology that helps the adoption of these systems. We have implemented two solutions (mobile application and wearable device), in order to compare them to measure the rate of user acceptance, and also to get feedback about fundamental features of interfaces to report pain levels. To evaluate the two solutions we conducted interviews with 12 people. The results showed that when given the choice between both devices, 67 % of the users preferred the wearable device over the mobile application, and 16.5 % preferred the mobile application over the wearable device. We also found that a device for reporting pain must be specific to this purpose, aesthetically pleasing and allow users to report easily and at the right time.

User Interfaces for Self-reporting Emotions: A Systematic Literature Review

Affective computing has focused on emotion acquisition using techniques of objective (sensors, facial recognition, physiological signals) and subjective measurement (self-report). Each technique has advantages and drawbacks, and a combination of the information generated from each could provide systems more balanced and accurate information about user emotions. However, there are several benefits to self-reporting emotions, over objective techniques: the collected information may be more precise and it is less intrusive to determine. This systematic literature review focuses on analyzing which technologies have been proposed to conduct subjective measurements of emotions through self-report. We aim to understand the state of the art regarding the features of interfaces for emotional self-report, identify the context for which they were designed, and describe several other aspects of the technologies. A SLR was conducted, resulting in 18 selected papers, 13 of which satisfied the inclusion criteria. We identified most existing systems use graphical user interfaces, and there are very few proposals that use tangible user interfaces to self-report emotional information, which may be an opportunity to design novel interfaces, especially for populations with low digital skills, e.g. older adults.

A systematic literature review about technologies for self-reporting emotional information

Emotional information is complex to manage by humans and computers alike, so it is difficult for users to express emotional information through technology. Two main approaches are used to gather this type of information: objective (e.g. through sensors or facial recognition) and subjective (reports by users themselves). Subjective methods are less intrusive and may be more accurate, although users may fail to report their emotions or not be entirely truthful about them. The goal of this study is to identify trends in the area of interfaces for the self-report of human emotions, under-served populations of users, and avenues of future research. A systematic literature review was conducted on six search engines, resulting in a set of 863 papers, which were filtered in a systematic way until we established a corpus of 40 papers. We studied the technologies used for emotional self-report as well as the issues regarding these technologies, such as privacy, interaction mechanisms, and how they are evaluated.

Gifting Interpretations of Personal Data

Research on physical representations of data has often used personal data as its focus. Core aim of making personal data physical is to provoke self-reflections through a felt experience. In this paper, we present a preliminary study which employs the idea of gift-giving as a means to explore ones online data. Our main findings report strategies of relating to the data of strangers as well as a conflict between what one thought of their online self and what others were able to find. We discuss how the gifts became platforms for self-reflection, similar to physical data models. Then, we connect that to the engagement of a third person (gift-giver) in the process, highlighting the potential of such involvement. In the future, we focus on how to link peoples meaningful artifacts with their personal data.

StraightenUp+: Monitoring of Posture during Daily Activities for Older Persons Using Wearable Sensors

Monitoring the posture of older persons using portable sensors while they carry out daily activities can facilitate the process of generating indicators with which to evaluate their health and quality of life. The majority of current research into such sensors focuses primarily on their functionality and accuracy, and minimal effort is dedicated to understanding the experience of older persons who interact with the devices. This study proposes a wearable device to identify the bodily postures of older persons, while also looking into the perceptions of the users. For the purposes of this study, thirty independent and semi-independent older persons undertook eight different types of physical activity, including: walking, raising arms, lowering arms, leaning forward, sitting, sitting upright, transitioning from standing to sitting, and transitioning from sitting to standing. The data was classified offline, achieving an accuracy of 93.5%, while overall device user perception was positive. Participants rated the usability of the device, in addition to their overall user experience, highly.

StraightenUp: Implementation and Evaluation of a Spine Posture Wearable

Human posture and activity levels are indicators for assessing health and quality of life. Maintaining improper posture for an extended period of time can lead to health issues, e.g. improper alignment of the vertebrae and accelerated degenerative disc. This, in turn, can be the cause of back pain, neurological deterioration, deformity, and cosmetic issues. Some wearable prototypes have been proposed for spine posture monitoring, however, there has not been enough consideration for the users’ experience with these devices, to understand which characteristics are central to acceptance and long-term use. This paper presents a prototype of a low-cost spine posture wearable, along with its preliminary evaluation, which aims both to confirm that the wearable can measure spine posture and to evaluate user experience with this device. The results show that the wearable was comfortable, causing a sensation of security, and that feedback to users would be needed to help improve posture. Further work is required to make sure the device is easy to put on and remove, and discreet enough to be worn in public.

InMyDay: A Digital Diary to Promote Self-care Among Elders.

Diaries allow users to record personal events and experiences, and are frequently used to collect participant data in user studies. Digital diaries have several benefits over traditional paper-based diaries, reducing respondents’ burden, administrative costs, and improving navigation. However, for elderly users, there are several challenges in the use of a digital diary: they may have cognitive and motor impairments, and fewer digital skills than other populations. We implemented a digital diary called InMyDay, specifically designed for elderly users. The goal of this diary is to promote self-care and self-reflection, by allowing users to register their activities and emotions. Ten elderly users tested the diary for five days, recording entries related to their days and how they felt. All of the participants used the diary every day and after the experiment, nine declared that they would use such an application at least once a week. We found that the diary promoted reflection, that users felt that this allowed them a moment of self-care during their day, and that they felt this was especially important for them as elderly people. Future work will focus on increasing the number of participants and emotions that may be reported and exploring new mechanisms of interaction.

Are Notifications a Challenge for Older People?: A Study Comparing Two Types of Notifications

Elderly users are usually not the target of design of mobile applications, and they may have cognitive and physical difficulties. Mobile notifications may help them remember to use an application, promoting adoption and allowing them to become content providers. We developed a mobile application, QuestionReport, that asks users one question per day, and implemented two types of notifications: one that is activated at the same time each day, and one that is activated while using the smartphone. We tested both notification types with 18 users over a period of 8 days, measuring the time it took to answer the question after receiving the notification and their perceptions about each notification style. We found that the ideal time for users to receive a notification depends on their employment status and that users with low digital skills have less confidence in their abilities to use a mobile application such as QuestionReport. Keywords-notifications; elderly people; user experience