Empowering older patients to engage in self care: designing an interactive robotic device.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To develop and test an interactive robot mounted computing device to support medication management as an example of a complex self-care task in older adults. METHOD: A Grounded Theory (GT), Participatory Design (PD) approach was used within three Action Research (AR) cycles to understand design requirements and test the design configuration addressing the unique task requirements. RESULTS: At the end of the first cycle a conceptual framework was evolved. The second cycle informed architecture and interface design. By the end of third cycle residents successfully interacted with the dialogue system and were generally satisfied with the robot. The results informed further refinement of the prototype. CONCLUSION: An interactive, touch screen based, robot-mounted information tool can be developed to support healthcare needs of older people. Qualitative methods such as the hybrid GT-PD-AR approach may be particularly helpful for innovating and articulating design requirements in challenging situations.