Experiences of Telephone Communication with Difficult to Understand Speech

This is a brochure, summarising the main findings of the study "Experiences of telephone communication with difficult to understand speech". It contains recommendations for service providers who offer customer support

The burden of managing medicines for older people with sensory impairment : an ethnographic-informed study

Background: Older age is associated with increased prevalence of sensory impairment and use of medicines. Objectives: To explore the daily ‘medicine journey’ of older people with sensory impairment. Methods: The study used ethnographic-informed methods (using audio-, photo- and video-recordings, diary notes and semi-structured interviews with researchers) and involved community-dwelling adults (aged > 65) in Scotland, with visual and/or hearing impairment and using > 4 medicines. Data analysis used the constant comparative method. Results: Fourteen older people with sensory impairment participated and used a mean of 11.0 (SD 5.0) medicines (range 5 to 22). Participants reported difficulties with medicine ordering, obtaining, storage, administration and disposal. They used elaborate strategies to manage their medicines including bespoke storage systems, fixed routines, simple aids, communication, and assistive technologies. Conclusion: Older people with sensory impairment experience substantial burden, challenges and risk with medicines management. Tailored medicine regimens and assistive technologies could provide greater support to older people with sensory impairment

Assistive technologies and strategies to support the medication management of individuals with hearing and/or visual impairment : a scoping review

Background -- Individuals with sensory impairment (visual and/or hearing) experience health inequalities and increased risk of medication-related iatrogenic disease compared with the general population. Assistive technologies and tailored strategies could support medication management for individuals with sensory impairment to reduce harm and increase the likelihood of therapeutic benefit. Objective -- This scoping review identified assistive technologies and strategies to support medication management of /for people with hearing and/or visual impairment. Methods -- Standard scoping review methodology was used to identify studies that evaluated technologies or strategies designed to support people with sensory impairment with independent medicine management. Electronic databases were searched (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, ACM, Cochrane) from inception to 18/07/22. Independent duplicate screening, selection and data extraction was undertaken. Results -- Of 1,231 publications identified 18 were included, reporting 17 studies, 16 of which evaluated technologies to assist people with visual impairment and one study to assist people with hearing impairment. The range of technologies and devices included: applications for android phones (n=6); eyedrop assistance devices (n=5); audio-prescription labelling/reading systems (n=2); touch-to-speech devices (n=2); continuous glucose monitoring system (n=1); and magnifying technology (n=1). Ten studies tested early-stage prototypes. Most participants could operate the technologies effectively and deemed them to be useful. Conclusions -- Despite the increasing number of medicine-related assistive technologies there has been limited empirical evaluation of their effectiveness for supporting individuals with sensory impairment. Prototypes appear to be useful for people with visual or hearing impairment, however wider ‘real-life’ testing is needed to confirm the benefits of these technologies

Enabling access:designing with and for dis/abled people in-between markets

The UK Parliament’s 2014 Care Act instituted a two-tier system to provide Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) Environmental Control (EC) systems for a diverse population of people recruited from patients with Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, Motor Neuron Disease (ALS) and other conditions. Provision became a statutory duty for local authorities, and regional Assistive Technology Hubs were established to meet the needs of clients with the most complex needs and to offer professional support for local services. This thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork into the practices of assistive technology professionals at one of the newly established Regional Service Centres. It provides insight into the ways in which distributed assistive technology systems are commissioned, evaluated, designed, customised and delivered to meet the needs of a highly diverse and low-prevalence population of clients within one of England’s nine administrative regions. Assistive devices and systems are often seen as a distinct class of technologies, which specifically serve dis/abled people. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that to accommodate clients with complex needs, healthcare professionals had to problematise and rework some dominant assumptions about design, devices and users. Their efforts went into devising novel ways to circulate technologies, different from that of mainstream, commercial provision. This was all the more necessary because studying the clinicians’ work made evident implicit assumptions about the figures of design, device and use in relation to non-disabled individual and groups of users. The work of the Centre further revealed market relations entangled in technological figures of design, user and device, and the ways that those relations required reconfiguration throughout the process of assistive technology provision. By tracing these transformations, the thesis offers a study of the workings and limits of pervasive technological imaginaries and rationalities. The thesis contributes to Social Studies of Science and Technology and Disability Studies, by presenting a detailed case study of technological products and systems designed to promote the social participation and well-being of dis/abled people. Further, by linking and comparing mainstream and assistive technology practices, the thesis situates design and use in the wider relations of dis/ability and the market. This widens the theoretical and practical toolkit to comprehensively evaluate technological products and services and to better appreciate processes and effects of sociotechnical change, and opens the space to reimagine and transform practices of design to accommodate dis/abled and non-disabled people

MINDSET Workstream 2 : Scoping Review for the Distribution and Procurement of Mental Health and Wellbeing XR Experiences, Products and Solutions in the UK

In November 2022, DHI was commissioned by UKRI to inform Workstream 2 of the £20m MINDSET Programme, a “test and trial a platform for the distribution and procurement of mental health and wellbeing XR experiences, products and solutions”. DHI developed a three-stage approach to address a specific set of questions posed by UKRI - Current State Mapping; Co-designing Future State, Recommendations. The approach included a desktop and literature review, interviews with procurement experts and suppliers, a series of co-design workshops prior to an analysis of findings to inform the report recommendations

The Burden of Managing Medicines for Older People With Sensory Impairment:An Ethnographic-Informed Study

Background: Older age is associated with increased prevalence of sensory impairment and use of medicines. Objectives: To explore the daily “medicine journey” of older people with sensory impairment. Methods: The study used ethnographic-informed methods (using audio-, photo- and video-recordings, diary notes and semi-structured interviews with researchers) and involved community-dwelling adults (aged &gt; 65) in Scotland, with visual and/or hearing impairment and using &gt;4 medicines. Data analysis used the constant comparative method. Results: Fourteen older people with sensory impairment participated and used a mean of 11.0 (SD 5.0) medicines (range 5–22). Participants reported difficulties with medicine ordering, obtaining, storage, administration and disposal. They used elaborate strategies to manage their medicines including bespoke storage systems, fixed routines, simple aids, communication, and assistive technologies. Conclusion: Older people with sensory impairment experience substantial burden, challenges and risk with medicines management. Tailored medicine regimens and assistive technologies could provide greater support to older people with sensory impairment.</p

Assistive technologies and strategies to support the pharmaceutical care of individuals with hearing and/or visual impairment: a scoping review protocol

The objective of this scoping review is to explore the extent and type of evidence in relation to empirical evaluation of assistive technologies and strategies suitable for supporting the pharmaceutical care of people with sensory impairment, specifically hearing and/or visual impairment