File
Mansson L1, Wiklund M1, Sandlund M1
1Umeå University, Dept of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå, Sweden
Background: Falls among senior citizens is a common problem that can be reduced by balance and strength exercises. In our previous research a digital exercise program to improve exercise access and adherence was developed in co-creation with seniors. During the development the participants expressed a wish to self-assess functional improvements while practicing with the programme. In previous studies sensors, i.e. accelerometers, have proven valid to assess balance function and mobility. However, a self-test have not been presented before.
Purpose: The aim was to, in co-creation with seniors, design the instructions and the interface for a self-test of balance and leg-strength to be used in a smartphone application.
Methods: The co-creation sessions were conducted by physiotherapy researchers in collaboration with ten seniors, 70 years and older. An engineer contributed to the development of the application between sessions. The project used an agile design, commonly used in software development, which means that work evolves gradually from session to session depending on the results. Every session focused on specific parts of the design, for example the different video instructions or the content and layout of the interface. In between the session participants carried out fieldwork tasks. The group discussions and practical sessions with prototypes were documented by video and/or audio recordings. The observations were qualitatively analysed to find suitable design solutions.
Results: Preliminary results from the co-creation process resulted in five guiding principles important for the development:
(1) instructing short and specific;
(2) understanding the user;
(3) presenting information in a familiar way;
(4) explaining why; and
(5) preserving the interest.
The current application, MyBalance, includes three short instruction videos, one with general information about the self-test and two separate videos for each test. The interface for both the balance test and the leg-strength test have three options:
(a) see instruction video;
(b) start the test; or
(c) see results from earlier tests.
Conclusion(s): Working with senior participants in a co-creation process was valuable, they contributed generously and their participation enriched the development. We consider co-creation with users to be an essential approach in order to create applications with high usability for the target group and ensure that information is expressed condensed and clear. The application MyBalance will later be tested in a reliability and validity study.
Implications: The knowledge of how to provide information to senior citizen is key to all sort of self-directed care and have been explored in this project. When MyBalance is validated it may be used in both home-based exercise and in the clinic to objectively and easily evaluate balance and functional strength, merely with an ordinary smartphone.
Keywords: co-creation, aged
Funding acknowledgements: This work was financially supported by the Strategic Research Programme in Care Sciences, Umeå University and The Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Purpose: The aim was to, in co-creation with seniors, design the instructions and the interface for a self-test of balance and leg-strength to be used in a smartphone application.
Methods: The co-creation sessions were conducted by physiotherapy researchers in collaboration with ten seniors, 70 years and older. An engineer contributed to the development of the application between sessions. The project used an agile design, commonly used in software development, which means that work evolves gradually from session to session depending on the results. Every session focused on specific parts of the design, for example the different video instructions or the content and layout of the interface. In between the session participants carried out fieldwork tasks. The group discussions and practical sessions with prototypes were documented by video and/or audio recordings. The observations were qualitatively analysed to find suitable design solutions.
Results: Preliminary results from the co-creation process resulted in five guiding principles important for the development:
(1) instructing short and specific;
(2) understanding the user;
(3) presenting information in a familiar way;
(4) explaining why; and
(5) preserving the interest.
The current application, MyBalance, includes three short instruction videos, one with general information about the self-test and two separate videos for each test. The interface for both the balance test and the leg-strength test have three options:
(a) see instruction video;
(b) start the test; or
(c) see results from earlier tests.
Conclusion(s): Working with senior participants in a co-creation process was valuable, they contributed generously and their participation enriched the development. We consider co-creation with users to be an essential approach in order to create applications with high usability for the target group and ensure that information is expressed condensed and clear. The application MyBalance will later be tested in a reliability and validity study.
Implications: The knowledge of how to provide information to senior citizen is key to all sort of self-directed care and have been explored in this project. When MyBalance is validated it may be used in both home-based exercise and in the clinic to objectively and easily evaluate balance and functional strength, merely with an ordinary smartphone.
Keywords: co-creation, aged
Funding acknowledgements: This work was financially supported by the Strategic Research Programme in Care Sciences, Umeå University and The Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing; Older people; Robotics & technology
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Umeå University, Sweden
Ethics committee: Umeå regional ethics board
Ethics number: 2017/317-31
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
