Universal Product Design Involving Elderly Users: A Participatory Design Model

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent studies have shown that people prefer to age in their familiar environments, thus guiding designers to provide a safe and functionally appropriate environment for ageing people, regardless of their physical conditions or limitations. Therefore, a participatory design model is proposed where human beings can improve their quality of life by promoting independence, as well as safety, useability and attractiveness of the residence. Brainstorming, scenario building, unstructured interviews, sketching and videotaping are used as techniques in the participatory design sessions. Quality deployment matrices are employed to find the relationships between the elderly user's requirements and design specifications. A case study was devised to apply and test the conceptual model phase of the proposed model. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Involving the elderly in the design process

Based on the concept of 'aging in place', a prescriptive model is proposed, aiming at the creation of a usable, safe and attractive built environment where the elderly residents are actively involved in the design process through collaboration sessions. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been adapted to develop an evaluation and translation method for the collected data of the elderly end-users

Universal product design involving elderly users: A participatory design model

Recent studies have shown that people prefer to age in their familiar environments, thus guiding designers to provide a safe and functionally appropriate environment for ageing people, regardless of their physical conditions or limitations. Therefore, a participatory design model is proposed where human beings can improve their quality of life by promoting independence, as well as safety, useability and attractiveness of the residence. Brainstorming, scenario building, unstructured interviews, sketching and videotaping are used as techniques in the participatory design sessions. Quality deployment matrices are employed to find the relationships between the elderly user's requirements and design specifications. A case study was devised to apply and test the conceptual model phase of the proposed model. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Which Is the Most Convincing of Them All? Exploring Anti-Domestic Violence Posters.

Although domestic abuse of women by men has received significant media, police, and research attention, domestic violence directed toward men has been marginalized across the board and is still rarely treated seriously. The purpose of this research, then, is to examine and compare different anti-domestic violence messages in which the abuser's gender is not always clear. In Study 1, 200 U.K. participants (100 females and 100 males, aged 18-67, M = 28.98, SD = 9.613) evaluated posters that varied across three levels; in that the subject (male or female) was depicted as being silenced, bruised, or experiencing live abuse. The results showed that the posters featuring female victims were all rated as more effective than posters showing male victims. In Study 2, 140 different U.K. participants (95 females; 45 males) aged 18 to 59 (M = 27.27, SD = 10.662) evaluated the cartoon facial images of Disney characters who had been altered to look like victims of violence and real-life corresponding photos of human models. The results showed that the realistic posters were found to be more believable, emotional, and effective than the cartoons. The implications of such perceptions are discussed

Turner syndrome and associated problems in turkish children: A multicenter study

Objective: Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disorder caused by complete or partial X chromosome monosomy that manifests various clinical features depending on the karyotype and on the genetic background of affected girls. This study aimed to systematically investigate the key clinical features of TS in relationship to karyotype in a large pediatric Turkish patient population. Methods: Our retrospective study included 842 karyotype-proven TS patients aged 0-18 years who were evaluated in 35 different centers in Turkey in the years 2013-2014. Results: The most common karyotype was 45,X (50.7%), followed by 45,X/46,XX (10.8%), 46,X,i(Xq) (10.1%) and 45,X/46,X,i(Xq) (9.5%). Mean age at diagnosis was 10.2±4.4 years. The most common presenting complaints were short stature and delayed puberty. Among patients diagnosed before age one year, the ratio of karyotype 45,X was significantly higher than that of other karyotype groups. Cardiac defects (bicuspid aortic valve, coarctation of the aorta and aortic stenosi) were the most common congenital anomalies, occurring in 25% of the TS cases. This was followed by urinary system anomalies (horseshoe kidney, double collector duct system and renal rotation) detected in 16.3%. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was found in 11.1% of patients, gastrointestinal abnormalities in 8.9%, ear nose and throat problems in 22.6%, dermatologic problems in 21.8% and osteoporosis in 15.3%. Learning difficulties and/or psychosocial problems were encountered in 39.1%. Insulin resistance and impaired fasting glucose were detected in 3.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Dyslipidemia prevalence was 11.4%. Conclusion: This comprehensive study systematically evaluated the largest group of karyotype-proven TS girls to date. The karyotype distribution, congenital anomaly and comorbidity profile closely parallel that from other countries and support the need for close medical surveillance of these complex patients throughout their lifespan. © Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology

What is Good Design in the Eyes of Older Users?

With the population of older consumers increasing and with the recent changes in legislation and attitudes towards this group, there have been corresponding changes in product design practice and a growing attempt to adopt an inclusive design approach. This recognises that people can become excluded from using products, services or environments if the needs and capabilities of all potential users are not taken into account. The inclusive design approach has developed from collaborations between industry, designers and researchers. One major influence in this area is the i~design project, whose definition is simply that “inclusive design is better design” (EDC, 2011). The Inclusive Design Toolkit website, a key output from the i~design project, states that a successful product must be “functional, usable, desirable and ultimately profitable” and that a key to good design is to reduce the demand on the user when capabilities decline with age or disability (EDC, 2011). It is also important to consider more emotional aspects, such as social acceptability and whether the potential user would actually want to use or be seen using the product (Keates and Clarkson, 2003). Other authors also emphasise that whilst inclusive design research and practice to date have focused primarily on the physical accessibility and usability of products, a better understanding is required of people’s emotional needs, such as social acceptability and desirability of products (Coleman et al, 2007; Lee, 2010). Similar views regarding the required shift in design focus are reflected in a number of other sources: the need to consider the less tangible human factors such as identity, emotion, delight and selfexpression (Cassim et al, 2007); simplicity, aesthetics, pleasure, personality, conspicuousness and fashion (Pullin, 2009); the product’s visual appearance (Crilly et al, 2004); creating pleasurable experiences (Demirbilek and Sener, 2003; Jordan, 2000); and the importance of the emotional aspects of design for a successful product (Norman, 2004), as well as needs related to specific cognitive conditions (e.g. Baumers and Heylighen, 2010)

The psychosocial impact of home use medical devices on the lives of older people: a qualitative study

Background Increased life expectancy and the accompanying prevalence of chronic conditions have led to the focus and delivery of health care migrating from the hospital and into people’s homes. While previous studies have investigated the integration of particular types of medical devices into the home, it was our intention to describe how medical devices are integrated into the lives of older people. Methods Adopting a qualitative study design, 12 older people, who used medical devices in the home, took part in in-depth, semi structured interviews. In 7 of the interviews participants and their partners were interviewed together. These interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Results Two themes were constructed that describe how medical devices that are used in the home present certain challenges to older people and their partners in how the device is adopted and the personal adaptations that they are required to make. The first theme of 'self-esteem’ highlighted the psychological impact on users. The second theme of 'the social device' illustrated the social impact of these devices on the user and the people around them. Conclusions We found that these devices had both a positive and negative psychosocial impact on users’ lives. An improved understanding of these psychological and social issues may assist both designers of medical devices and the professionals who issue them to better facilitate the integration of medical devices into the homes and lives of older people

Emotional design and human-robot interaction

Recent years have shown an increase in the importance of emotions applied to the Design field - Emotional Design. In this sense, the emotional design aims to elicit (e.g., pleasure) or prevent (e.g., displeasure) determined emotions, during human product interaction. That is, the emotional design regulates the emotional interaction between the individual and the product (e.g., robot). Robot design has been a growing area whereby robots are interacting directly with humans in which emotions are essential in the interaction. Therefore, this paper aims, through a non-systematic literature review, to explore the application of emotional design, particularly on Human-Robot Interaction. Robot design features (e.g., appearance, expressing emotions and spatial distance) that affect emotional design are introduced. The chapter ends with a discussion and a conclusion.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio