Christina Bröhl

• Dr.
• PhD Student at RWTH Aachen University

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Stürze sind eine große Herausforderung für Betroffene und das Gesundheitswesen. Die „Aachener Sturzpass App“ ist eine digitale Gesundheitsanwendung, die es älteren Patienten (Personen über 50 Jahre) ermöglicht, ihr individuelles Sturzrisiko selbstständig via Smartphone einzuschätzen und zu überwachen. Die Selbsteinschätzung basiert...

The technology use of older people is marked by stigmas. Whether in literature, films or even in science, the narrative of older people who cannot manage the simplest clicks and handles is omnipresent. Independent information search? Unrealistic - children and grandchildren are rather called for help. What if they no longer have a landline but only...

Demographic change in Germany has been discussed on a grand scale in the past years. Feared and denied at first; research was conducted; approaches were presented, and measures derived. The health care sector is an area of special interest because demographic change is affecting it twice: on the one hand, more elderly patients have to be treated wh...

Die plattformbasierte Arbeit ist ein stetig wachsender Beschäftigungsbereich. Insbesondere Sichtweise, Bewertung, Perspektive und Entwicklung der MitarbeiterInnen werden gegenwärtig und bezogen auf die zukünftigen Herausforderungen zu selten berücksichtigt. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, die Ergebnisse einer Online-Umfrage (N=81) zu präsentieren, die...

A trend can be observed towards grouping and shifting local operations to centralized remote lock operation centers (RLOCs) due to costs and limitations in personnel resources and the increasing automation level of technical systems. However, safety-critical activities still require active monitoring of processes by a human operator with help of ad...

Dementia is a large economic, social and health concern with the aging population. One of the best ways to care for people living with dementia is to keep them at home in a familiar environment. Smartphone applications may provide assistance to patients and caregivers. An open web-based survey was answered by 104 individuals older than 50 years. Pa...

The use of robots in the national economy—especially in industrialized countries—is growing. At the same time, the interdependency between humans and robots is getting increasingly closer: they are engaging in direct contact with each other as more and more organizations let robots and humans work hand-in-hand. One factor that predicts successful h...

Background: In many countries, including Germany, older people are increasing in numbers, while fewer caregivers are available. A way to address the problem is to develop new medical assistance and monitoring systems that are operated by the elderly on their own, e.g. in-home aftercare systems. Objective: The development of a set of eight data-b...

Zusammenfassung „Personas“ als archetypische Benutzer können Entwicklern helfen, die individuellen Bedürfnisse potentieller Benutzergruppen frühzeitig in der Technologieentwicklung mit einzubeziehen. Bspw. steht der Gesundheitssektor, aufgrund des demographischen Wandels, vor der Herausforderung, neue innovative Technologien für ältere und sehr alt...

Segways offer elderly users an opportunity to increase their mobility range and may also be useful as a training device. As of yet, very little is known about muscular activity during Segway use. Hence, the aim of this pilot study was to investigate the muscular strain during the use of Segways. For this purpose, 15 study participants were equipped...

Augmented reality game concepts can be used for health-related purposes in old age. Physical activity is a key aspect for healthy aging. Conceptual considerations and current research in the field of technology and aging are examined here to recommend designs for augmented reality games for older adults. We explore relevant trends in augmented real...

Background: Information and communication technology increasingly addresses the information needs patients have regarding their personal health. While an understanding of older adults' needs is crucial for developing successful eHealth technology, user research results hardly apply to different systems. Objective: The present study aims at: (1)...

The digital era is bringing fundamental transformations to all areas of society. The penetration of everyone’s professional and private lives with modern information and communication technology is constantly increasing. However, the developers responsible for this transformation are currently often oriented too heavily towards what can be accompli...

Everybody is talking about digitalization. It is referred to as the “fourth industrial revolution”, which is changing the way we are living together to a high extent. New forms of communication arise in addition to permanent accessibility. This trend is enabled and sup- ported by new sociotechnical systems. The output of these systems leads to new...

Ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis der Bedürfnisse der Nutzer ist entscheidend für die Entwicklung effektiver Informations-und Kommunikationstechnologie (IKT). Zu Beginn der Systementwicklung ist es daher wichtig, den Nutzungskontext und Nutzerbedarf zu verstehen. Für digitale Gesundheitssysteme spielt hier der Bedarf älterer Menschen eine besondere Ro...

Background: Increasingly, eHealth involves health data visualizations to enable users to better understand their health situation. Selecting efficient and ergonomic visualizations requires knowledge about the task that the user wants to carry out and the type of data to be displayed. Taxonomies of abstract tasks and data types bundle this knowledg...

Ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis der Bedürfnisse der Nutzer ist entscheidend für die Entwicklung effektiver Informations-und Kommunikationstechnologie (IKT). Zu Beginn der Systementwicklung ist es daher wichtig, den Nutzungskontext und Nutzerbedarf zu verstehen. Für digitale Gesundheitssysteme spielt hier der Bedarf älterer Menschen eine besondere Ro...

The German healthcare system is characterized by digital change. In recent years, a trend towards the entry of start-ups and medium-sized enterprises into this sector has developed. These types of companies in particular are facing enormous challenges due to the industry and the ongoing digital change. This article presents the fundamental developm...

Background: Health apps are increasingly becoming an integral part of health care. Especially in older adults, the self-management of chronic diseases by health apps might become an integral part of health care services. Objective: The aim of this explorative study was to investigate the prevalence of health app use and related demographic factors...

In the ongoing digitalization of society new technical systems and technologies are increasingly penetrating people’s everyday lives. In order to be able to analyze the resulting complex interactions and forms of networking, a participative approach is needed to identify the needs of these user groups. Empirical studies, e.g., mass studies, are imp...

Im Forschungsprojekt Mensch-Roboter Synergie – Lernen und Adaption in der Mensch Roboter Evolution (MeRoSy) sollen Methoden des Maschinellen Lernens und der Adaption für eine ergonomische Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion erforscht und entwickelt werden. Die Interaktionsmodalität sind Kopfbewegungen mit den drei Freiheitsgraden des menschlichen Kopfes (Ex...

The use of network diagrams in project management software is a useful tool when planning projects. However, working with these diagrams can quickly become confusing when dealing with complex project plans. This effect is even more pronounced for older persons as they have to deal with age-related changes in perception, cognition and motor control....

In 2016 the interdisciplinary research team Tech4Age started its long-term survey to evaluate the use of information and communication technology (ICT) by older adults (60+) in Germany. This study focuses on the use of ICT devices and applications, the evaluation how these devices are operated in terms of ergonomic hand positions, the investigation...

While interacting with digital information, input devices are varying widely as technology is constantly changing. The most successful input devices are currently touchscreens, as they combine information input and output on a single interface. The aim of the present research was to gain a basic understanding of how people hold their hands when int...

Pokémon Go™ is an augmented reality game for iOS™ and Android™ released in July 2016. It is one of the most played augmented reality exergames in 2016. News programs all over the world reported about the high level of physical activity of people playing Pokémon Go™. Further medical and public health communities discussed the potential of this mobil...

Present article outlines characteristics of a general task analysis in terms of digital health visualization evaluation and design. Furthermore, a number of methodological approaches are discussed. One example, in which a hierarchical structure was empirically built with semantic classification by 98 users, will be discussed together with the expec...

Background: Fall incidents are a major problem for patients and healthcare. The “Aachen Fall Prevention App” (AFPA) represents the first mobile Health (mHealth) application (app) empowering older patients (persons 50+ years) to selfassess and monitor their individual fall risk. Self-assessment is based on the “Aachen Fall Prevention Scale,” which c...

Die Kooperation zwischen Mensch und Roboter gewinnt zunehmend an Bedeutung: Während der Mensch bislang durch eine räumliche Trennung vom Roboter geschützt war, erproben immer mehr Firmen Roboter, die mit dem Menschen Hand in Hand zusammenarbeiten. Das bedeutet, dass Mensch und Roboter ihren Arbeitsplatz physisch teilen und in direkten Kontakt mitei...

Die ergonomische Gestaltung von freihändig gesteuerten Leichtbaurobotern bietet Potential für Arbeitslätze in der Mensch-Roboter-Kooperation. Eine altersdifferenzierte Studie (N = 24) untersucht die mit der Robotersteuerung einhergehenden Kopfbewegungen mittels Motion Capture und nimmt die resultierende Beanspruchung mittels Oberflächen-Elektromyog...

Due to technical progress, the use of touchscreens has become more essential. This may have far-reaching consequences as recent studies have shown that visual information close to the hands is perceived in a different way as information farther away from the hands. (for reviews see (Abrams, Weidler, & Suh, 2015; Bloesch, Davoli, & Abrams, 2013; Goo...

According to recent studies, cognitive processes are modulated by the proximity of the hands to a stimulus. Specifically, hand proximity (also known as nearby-hand or hand-presence effects) induces a bias to process information near the hands more precisely and this effect can be facilitative or debilitative depending on the task context. Two diffe...

In this publication the results of an empirical study are analyzes regarding the research question if a mobile application on a tablet computer, to support the drug intake and vital sign parameter documentation, affects adherence of elderly patients. For the achievement in the management of patients with hypertension adherence of their medication i...

Future robots will process work tasks with a high degree of complexity even for small batch sizes in collaboration with the working person, simultaneously, and within a specified workplace. Due to the transformation from robots that are spatially and temporally separated from the working person and are programmed to execute tasks in a deterministic...

This paper presents two human-robot cooperative application scenarios of the project MeRoSy (Human-Robot Synergy) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The first scenario relates to the human-robot cooperation in an industrial application, while the second one refers to the robotic workplace assistance for people with dis...

Activity trackers, measuring motion and steps, enable users to monitor their behaviour and may support a healthier lifestyle. To gain more detailed insight into initial and long-term use, a two-phase explorative study with two age groups (young/old) was conducted. The age of the younger group ranged from 19 to 30 years and of the older group from 6...

Kommunikations- und Informationstechnologien erlauben ihren Benutzern eine hohe Eigenständigkeit im Alter. Insbesondere die Entwicklung des Smartphones gilt als einflussreiche Technologie, die den Markt nachhaltig verändert hat. Basierend auf einer Vergleichsstudie aus dem Jahr 2008 wurde im vorliegenden Beitrag qualitativ erfragt, ob die Einstellu...

Personal mobility, such as, for example, the ability to get up and sit down independently, decreases by age. In Germany, one out of ten people older than 75 years needs long-term care and thereby support in personal mobility. Within the age group of 80+ years this number increases even more. Personal immobility is one of the main reasons for the ne...

Uncertainty impacts many crucial issues the world is facing today – from climate change prediction, to scientific modelling, to the interpretation of medical data. Decisions typically rely on data which can be aggregated from different sources and further transformed using a variety of algorithms and models. Such data processing pipelines involve d...

In the context of this study the usability of the first blood glucose meter that is connectable to a smartphone has been investigated by the use through diabetic patients of different ages and with different technical experiences. According to DIN ISO 2028-1 the participants had to solve usability-tasks with the think-aloud-method. Additionally the...

Research focusing on the position of the hands with regard to visual stimuli has recently received a great deal of attention. One of the main findings is that stimuli that are close to the hands are perceived and processed more precisely than those that are more distant. In this study, the effect of hand proximity was studied using a visual search...

This paper describes the development of an experimental setup to test the multimodal information representation and superposition for elderly users in a categorical decision task. Due to the demographic change more and more elderly people will have to be supported monitoring their health on their own with new digital devices. Therefore it should be...

Uncertainty impacts many crucial issues the world is facing today – from climate change prediction, to scientific modelling, to the interpretation of medical data. Decisions typically rely on data which can be aggregated from different sources and further transformed using a variety of algorithms and models. Such data processing pipelines involve d...

In previous studies the smartphone, considering the adaptation and use of modern technology, has not been detected. Based on a comparison of literature with newly collected data the question was answered whether the attitude of over 60 years’ old people has changed towards technology in recent years. For a direct comparison of technology acceptance...

The cooperation and collaboration between humans and robots is getting ever closer: While the human body was historically protected by a large safety distance, more and more organizations let robots and humans work hand-in-hand. This means that humans and robots are sharing physical space and are engaging in direct contact with each other. One fact...

Design pattern languages are already used extensively in architecture and computer science. In 2009 we first proposed the idea of a design pattern language for the health sector and in particular the Ambient Assisted Living sector. Based on the first language, we now present a new design pattern language focusing on “mobile information and communic...

While current data visualization research is profoundly driven by innovation and technical aspects, the project Tech4Age focusses on the evaluation of human factors in health-related data and information visualization. This workshop paper initially describes the background and motivation of ergonomic health-data visualization research. Subsequently...

Demographic change and associated shifts in the age structure lead to major challenges in health processes. One way to address this is to increase the use of telemedicine systems and services to ensure non-local yet individualized patient care, such as in rural areas. When considering new medical technology components, we must compensate for age-re...

Zukünftige Roboter werden Arbeitsaufgaben mit dem Menschen gemeinsam, zur gleichen Zeit und am gleichen Ort verrichten. In diesem Beitrag werden ethische, rechtliche und soziale Implikationen (ELSI), die sich durch diesen Wandel ergeben, analysiert. Eine Zielsetzung dabei ist, ELSI-Fragestellungen zu identifizieren und systematisch aufzuarbeiten. E...

Das aktuelle Informationszeitalter geht mit zunehmend wachsenden Datenmengen einher. Informationssysteme werden entwickelt, um relevante Informationen zu finden oder neue Informationen zu extrahieren, für Verbraucher ebenso wie im medizinischen und wissenschaftlichen Kontext. Hier werden wichtige Entscheidungen oft basierend auf den Ergebnissen von...

Im Rahmen dieses Beitrags wird eine vier wöchige explorative Studie zur individuellen Motivation und Usability eines Fitness Trackers mit zwei Altersgruppen vorgestellt. Die Probanden benutzten den gestellten Fitnesstracker ohne vorheriges Training eigenständig in ihrer häuslichen Umgebung und integrierten ihn individuell in ihren Alltag. Im Rahmen...

ctivity trackers, measuring motion and steps, enable users to monitor their behaviour and may support a healthier lifestyle. To gain more detailed insight into initial and long-term use, a two-phase explorative study with two age groups (young/old) was conducted. The age of the younger group ranged from 19 to 30 years and of the older group from 60...

As the overload of digital information in the SMEs requires an adequate management, document management systems (DMS) increasingly gain significance since they enhance the automation of processes within documents’ registration, classification, processing, archiving and forwarding. However, in current selection processes of DMS the usability aspect...

Visual information surrounding the hand is viewed and processed differently from information further away and the direction of this effect is highly dependent on task context. In this study, the effect of proximal hands was analyzed using an extensive visual search paradigm and by means of three different hand positions: hands on the screen, hands...

Service robotics has great potential for helping people to live independent lives in their own homes. However, if this potential is to be fully exploited in the near future, research and development cannot limit itself to solving the technological challenges involved. The only way to develop service robots that people will accept is to get potentia...

Through the use of Document Management Systems (DMS) companies can enhance the automation of processes within documents’ registration, classification, processing, archiving and distribution. However, the usability aspect in current selection processes of DMS is inadequately represented. The reason for this neglect is the fact that although function...

Working in projects is an important part of many jobs in service industry. Due to their knowledge and experience project planning is often accomplished by older employees. Therefore, and with regard to the demographic change an integration of the needs of older employees into the work environment is required. Common to most IT-based systems, includ...

Computer aided project management is a useful tool in project planning especially when dealing with large and complex project plans. Project planning is often accomplished by older employees due to their knowledge and experience. This paper describes a usability study in which three off-the-shelf software tools were investigated regarding execution...

Durch die Integration von Technik in personenbezogene Dienstleistungen kann auf die gegensätzlich erscheinenden Erfordernisse einer individuellen Betreuung der zu Pflegenden und einer Standardisierung des Pflegealltags eingegangen werden, da es dadurch ermöglicht wird, Routineprozesse zu vereinfachen, sodass mehr Ressourcen für eine individuelle Pa...

Vor dem Hintergrund des demografischen Wandels und der steigenden Anzahl an Computerarbeitsplätzen steigt die Bedeutung einer altersgerechten Softwaregestaltung. In diesem Beitrag werden im ersten Teil drei grundlagenbasierte Studien mit prototypischen Projektmanagement-Softwareanwendungen beschrieben, aus denen sich Kernaussagen für die altersdiff...

Im Rahmen einer Studie wurde die ergonomische Gestaltung der Bildschirmarbeit in Leitzentralen der Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung untersucht. Hierbei wurde eine aus Checklisten und standardisierten Interviews bestehende kombinierte Erhebungsmethodik gewählt. Mit Hilfe der für den Anwendungsfall spezifizierten Checklisten zur Hard- und Software...