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Engaging Older People using Participatory Design

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The use of digital technologies is increasingly proposed in health and social care to address the aging population phenomenon but, in practice, the designers of these technologies are ill equipped to design for older people. We suggest participatory design as an approach to improving the quality of design for older people but, based on previous work and our own experiences, identify four central issues that participatory design approaches need to address. We describe an approach to early engagement in design with older people that address each of these issues and some of our experiences applying the approach in a variety of different design projects. We conclude by discussing some of the issues that have been highlighted when attempting to apply this approach in different design contexts and the issues that have been raised when working with partners who are less committed to the idea of engaging with older adults in participatory design.
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... Designers face the challenge of tapping into this experience and knowledge to craft solutions that meet the specific needs of older adults. 16 The imperative arises to adopt a bottom-up approach to technology design, one that seeks to enrich our comprehension of the care of older adults, the complexities of the caregiving process, and the unique demands of care within each context. ...
... As a response to this, new design opportunities are offered in the literature to better account for the needs of older adults, 39 together with already established engaging older people using participatory design. 16 While our study provides valuable insights, it is not without limitations. While the focus groups were conducted by a team of at least two researchers, including a native speaker from the same geographical area, the in-depth interviews were led by a single researcher. ...
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Objective As the world faces an aging population, the complexities of care management become increasingly pronounced. While technological solutions hold promise in addressing the dynamic demands of care, many nuances are to be considered in the design and implementation of active and assisted living technologies (AAL) for older adult care. This qualitative study, set in southern Spain, is positioned at the crossroads of healthcare challenges, as seen by the different actors involved in the care process and the technological solutions developed in response to these challenges. By investigating the complex landscape of caregiving and by examining the experiences and challenges faced by caregivers, healthcare professionals, and older adults, we aim to guide the development of vision-based AAL technologies that are responsive to the genuine needs of older adults and those requiring care. Methods A qualitative research methodology was used in the study. In total15 in-depth interviews and five focus groups were conducted with a diverse group of stakeholders involved in the process of care provision and reception. Results While the results demonstrate that there is a readiness for technological solutions, concerns over privacy and trust highlight the need for a carefully integrated, human-centric approach to technology in caregiving. Conclusion This research serves as a compass, guiding future discussions on the intersection of aging, technology, and care, with the ultimate goal of transforming caregiving into a collaborative and enriching journey for all stakeholders involved.
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... Because the aim of the design sessions was to involve older adults and caregivers as designers when creating technology to support their mental health and routines, the dialogue variants were designed to facilitate ideation and acted as probing materials [103] to encourage participants to think aloud about their ideal interaction(s), rather than being experimental. In fact, participatory design and co-design studies with older adults commonly relied on probing to generate feedback on prototypes [6,46,76] to generating abstract new ideas [51]. Therefore, throughout the session, the facilitator regularly reiterated the purpose of the co-design activity. ...
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