Co-designing personalised assistive technology
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Co-designing personalised aids of daily living with users with chronic conditions - a feasibility study
IRAS ID
266195
Contact name
Jeremy Tree
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Swansea University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 26 days
Research summary
Assistive technology is an important tool in helping people maintain independence, allowing them to actively participate in education, work, and society. If maximised to its full potential there would be significant health and wellbeing benefits for individuals, reduced reliance on formal health and social care services and reduced healthcare costs. However, current equipment is often unsuitable in meeting an individual’s needs. Previous review work by the research team highlighted issues with the design, function, and service provision of assistive technology as barriers to its use. Two specific barriers, a lack of equipment customisation and a lack of end-user involvement in the provision process, are the focus of this work.
This research aims to assess a new method that provides personalised assistive technology to individuals. The method will actively engage participants to input into the design of their own assistive device(s) to help them overcome their challenges of daily living. This method will help enable the device to be customized to their needs, a process known as co-design. Participants will be recruited from Swansea Bay University Health Board with a range of long-term physical health conditions whose current needs are unable to be met by current standard and off-the-shelf assistive technology solutions.
Participants will be involved in up to 6 interactive sessions spread over 3 months with the researcher. In the initial session the researcher will work with the participants to identify challenges in daily living for the device to overcome. In subsequent sessions, the researcher will design different solutions for the participant to try and feedback on, enabling the design to be adapted to the participants needs. Finally, the participants will evaluate the device provided through questionnaires and individual semi-structured interviews. This feedback will help assess the effectiveness of co-design and its feasibility to be incorporated into future NHS services.REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
21/WA/0097
Date of REC Opinion
7 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion