Development and presentation of the first design process model for sports equipment design

Many design industries have design process models that are specific to their discipline. However, there is currently no design process model specific to the discipline of sports engineering – the design of sports equipment. Sports equipment should aim to improve the sporting performance of an athlete, therefore the sports design process itself is likely to be highly user centred. This paper reports on a practical study and followed a rigorous, iterative approach of development and evaluation, involving both practising sports engineers from industry and academics. The process model was developed as a result of semi-structured interviews with sports engineers before progressing through an iterative cycle of development and validation with both academics and further interviews with sports engineers. The outcome is a descriptive model that is reflective of sports design practice in industry – a highly iterative design process within process stages with user integration throughout. It is anticipated that the outcome of this study could have an impact on the design discipline as a whole, as lessons can be taken from high level of user integration demonstrated in sports design

Improving inclusive design practice - transferring knowledge from sports design practice

Despite the existence of many design tools to educate and assist the designer in implementing inclusive design, there is still a lack of inclusive design uptake in industry. The client is often cited as a barrier to inclusive design uptake, therefore it is important that this issue is addressed if inclusive design uptake is to be increased. Sports design is a highly user focused discipline, therefore it is anticipated that there is scope for inclusive design to learn from this user centred discipline. This research aims to investigate the potential of applying the sports design process within an inclusive design context to increase inclusive design uptake in industry. The paper reports on a practical study, which interviewed practicing industry designers and designers from a UK centre specialising in inclusive design. The outcome is a set of recommendations from designers on how the sports design process model can be developed to facilitate inclusive design uptake in industry

Can the sports design process help the inclusive design community?

As the global population ages, inclusive design is becoming more important to companies due to customer demands and increased competition. It is also acknowledged that the use of a formalised design process is of commercial benefit to a company. There is therefore a need to consider the user more fully throughout the design process. Sports products are highly user-centred due to their need to improve the overall sporting performance of an athlete, therefore it hypothesised that strengths from the sports product design process could be utilised within the inclusive design approach. This paper reports on practical study, which investigated the similarities and differences between the sport and product design processes followed by companies in practice. It was found that there was little variation between the core stages of the design process, although large companies were found to follow a more structured approach than small companies. A key difference observed between the sports and product design approaches was the level of user involvement within the process. Sports companies showed greater user involvement, with usability and user performance being the emphasis of the process

Understanding inclusive design education

There is a need for responsible engineering design to accommodate the diverse user requirements that come with the global phenomenon of population ageing. Inclusive design is a design philosophy that considers the needs of a wide diversity of users within the design process, therefore is an approach that can address these diverse user requirements. However, uptake of inclusive design in industry has been limited, with designer awareness of the approach and its associated methods and tools noted as barriers to the uptake of the approach. This research aims to understand the current approach to ID education within UK Higher Education Institutions, utilising interviews with design educators and a student survey. The study concluded that the teaching of inclusive design varied between institutions with some conflicting responses from academics and students relating to methods, tools and processes taught. This study recommends that greater transparency should be encouraged between universities to encourage the development of a cohesive ID education strategy, in addition to the development of a framework to aid the implementation of appropriate ID methods and tools within the design process

Suicidal students' use of and attitudes to primary care prevention services

Aim The aims of this study were to improve responses to students in distress and who are feeling suicidal, to help practitioners to increase their responsiveness to those at high risk of suicide and to develop effective responses to those affected by their deaths. The study sought to build a detailed picture of students’ patterns of service use. Background National suicide prevention strategies emphasise that suicide prevention requires the collaboration of a wide range of organisations. Among these, primary care services play a key role in relation to suicide prevention for young people in crisis. Methods This study, undertaken between 2004 and 2007, focused on 20 case studies of student suicide that took place in the United Kingdom between May 2000 and June 2005. It adopted a psychological autopsy approach to learn from a wide range of informants, including parents, friends, university staff and the records of coroners or procurator fiscals. Twenty families gave permission for their son’s or daughter’s death to be included in the study and agreed to participate in the study. Informants were interviewed in person and the data were analysed thematically. Analysis of the case study data suggested that in a number of cases students had failed to engage with services sufficiently early or in sufficient depth. Primary care practitioners need to be proactive in communicating concerns about vulnerable students to student support services. At local levels, collaboration between student support and National Health Service practitioners varied considerably and channels of communication need to be developed

The Telehealth Skills, Training, and Implementation Project: An evaluation protocol

External stabilization is reported to improve reliability of hand held dynamometry, yet this has not been tested in burns. We aimed to assess the reliability of dynamometry using an external system of stabilization in people with moderate burn injury and explore construct validity of strength assessment using dynamometry. Participants were assessed on muscle and grip strength three times on each side. Assessment occurred three times per week for up to four weeks. Within session reliability was assessed using intraclass correlations calculated for within session data grouped prior to surgery, immediately after surgery and in the sub-acute phase of injury. Minimum detectable differences were also calculated. In the same timeframe categories, construct validity was explored using regression analysis incorporating burn severity and demographic characteristics. Thirty-eight participants with total burn surface area 5 – 40% were recruited. Reliability was determined to be clinically applicable for the assessment method (intraclass correlation coefficient \u3e0.75) at all phases after injury. Muscle strength was associated with sex and burn location during injury and wound healing. Burn size in the immediate period after surgery and age in the sub-acute phase of injury were also associated with muscle strength assessment results. Hand held dynamometry is a reliable assessment tool for evaluating within session muscle strength in the acute and sub-acute phase of injury in burns up to 40% total burn surface area. External stabilization may assist to eliminate reliability issues related to patient and assessor strength

Capturing the life cycle of false hair products to identify opportunities for remanufacture

The false hair industry represents a case of growing demand and depleting natural resources, in addition to a significant environmental impact of synthetic alternatives. Despite the growth of the false hair industry, there is a lack of research to date regarding the complete life cycle of false hair products. False hair products currently follow a linear life cycle with a cradle-to-grave flow of materials, making it essential that consideration is given to how such products are produced, used and disposed of. To reduce the strain on the supply of raw materials, limit the environmental impact of synthetic materials and ensure end users receive quality products at a reasonable price, there is a need to transform the current cradle-to-grave life cycle of false hair products. This research aims to capture the life cycle of false hair products and identify opportunities to sustainably capture waste within that life cycle. The study involved desktop research, an extensive user survey, manufacturer survey, an overview of the medical demand for false hair products and interviews with wig banks to capture for the first time the life cycle of false hair products. Recycling, reconditioning and remanufacture of waste materials are identified as mechanisms to reduce waste of false hair products within the UK industry, with potential for this research to impact on an international scale by reducing the global demand for natural raw materials and limiting the environmental impact of synthetic fibres

Evaluating the relation between ADHD symptoms and externalizing behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The risk for externalizing behaviors (Bos et al., 2018) complicates the comorbidity between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To investigate whether the relation between ASD status (ASD vs typical development, TD) and externalizing behaviors would vary by differences in ADHD symptoms, parent-child dyads (3-7yo), 127 TD (47.7% female) and 81 children with ASD (16.7% female), participated. The linear regression tested model with significant main and interaction effects explained 43.3% of variance, overall. Consistent with research, externalizing problems were higher for both groups when ADHD symptoms were also high compared to low, an effect stronger for TD children