Developing ApplTree
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing ApplTree – an app to help people with acquired brain injury organise their schedule
IRAS ID
214664
Contact name
Matthew Jamieson
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
People with acquired brain injury often experience difficulty with memory and this can have an impact on everyday functioning. For example people may forget to attend appointments, miss medication and neglect self-care. Assistive technology, for example a calendar app on a smartphone, can help memory by prompting the user about a future intention at a set time (Gillespie, Best and O’Neill, 2012). There is good evidence from the rehabilitation literature that technology which prompts in this way is more effective at supporting memory than paper diaries and calendars (Jamieson, Cullen, McGee-Lennon, Brewster and Evans, 2014). The use of smartphone applications (apps) as a prompting intervention is particularly appealing because of their ubiquity, which may prevent users feeling conspicuous or stigmatised when using technology. Despite the evidence for its efficacy, and the ubiquity of smartphones and smartphone reminder apps, the actual uptake of memory aid technology by people with ABI is generally very low (Jamieson Cullen, McGee-Lennon, Brewster and Evans, 2015). Reasons for this could be poor perceived utility, usability and acceptability.
The proposed projects build upon previous studies which have; a) investigated the issues which prevent uptake and influence the usability of smartphone reminder apps for people with ABI and b) Developed and tested reminding software which aims to overcome the barriers to use for this group.REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
17/WS/0140
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion