Person centred technology innovation for health and social care

Abstract

The digital era has revolutionised society. Citizens are becoming increasingly reliant on ubiquitous computing with electronic devices permeating all areas of people’s lives. This has yet to fully translate into real world gains for people with disabilities. Assistive technology is not meeting the needs of everyone, and an overburdened healthcare system is reliant on assistive technology to support the increasing numbers of people living with complex conditions, such as acquired brain injury and dementia. This has created a challenge that needs to be addressed in partnership with those populations, with a vision of creating personalised technology solutions that empower, facilitate independence in the home, and support well-being.

Nine published peer reviewed research papers are presented in this thesis, adopting participatory research design and person-centred research approaches to engage target end users. Participatory research provided a design methodology that recognised people with disabilities as active agents in society and enabled partnership in both the design and evaluation of assistive technology.

A user centred design framework was applied in the design and validation testing of a multifunctional Brain Computer Interface (BCI) for people with acquired brain injury. This was the first time BCI was migrated out of the laboratory and evaluated in the home environment within a robust ethical governance framework.

Authentic collaboration to enable partnership in the lifecycle of design, validation and evaluation is fundamental to progress the potential of technology. To achieve this peer researchers were integrated into the research team investigating the person-centred technology provision from the perspectives of tenants (people living with dementia), and those working, and caring in technology enriched supported living environments.

A person-centred lifecycle approach to the design and evaluation of technology is proposed to maintain personhood, agency, citizenship, and empower the end user. Further research is required to explore the application of the findings from this body of work.

Date of Award	Dec 2023
Original language	English
Sponsors	HSC R&D & EU Horizon 2020
Supervisor	Suzanne Martin (Supervisor) & Assumpta Ryan (Supervisor)