Pairing Activity Narratives with an Activity Tracker. 11:56 AM ... Falls Prevention - Don't Mention the F-Word 2012 [Leaflet]. AgeUK: London. In order to find out ...
Using a Human-Centred Design methodology to design a‘Balance Health’ application
Shruti Grover and Ross Atkin
Introduction More than a third of people over the age of 65 fall every year in the UK and those who fall once are two or three times more likely to fall again1 . Falls represent over half of hospital admissions for accidental injury, particularly hip fracture. Half of those with hip fracture never regain their former level of function and one in five die within three months2. We adopted a human-centred design research methodology, working with six participants between the ages of 51 and 70. Each participant was undergoing a lifestyle or a medical transition that affected their balance health and hence had a heightened awareness of their balance. The purpose of our research was to explore the changing relationship of our participants with their bodies as they age, their motivations for everyday activities, and so create an intervention that encouraged them to adopt a proactive attitude to their ‘Balance Health’.
Capability Tools Checking Balance Health
Fig. 1: Obstacle Course
Fig.2: Static Measure of Balance
In order to find out about our participants awareness of ‘Balance Health’, and the role it played in everyday life we designed two tools; the first was an obstacle course (Fig. 1), designed with everyday life prompts, to encourage participants to engage with their dynamic balance. The second measured their static balance by getting them to stand on one leg and measuring postural sway(Fig. 2). We observed that while there was ample knowledge about the idea of cardiovascular health, there was little engagement with the idea of ‘Balance Health’. Participants used non-specific vocabularies to communicate the concept of their balance using words such as ‘unsteady’, ‘wobbly’, ‘felt’, ‘seemed’. This led us to observe that it can be a challenge to talk about something you cannot quantify. Hence a major aspiration for our intervention became the ability to conveniently quantify balance. (Fig. 3)
Motivation Tools
Opportunity Tools
Fig. 4: Activity Histories
Fig. 7: Activity Tracker Kit
Exploring Life Histories and Current Motivators
Fig.5: Card Sorting
In order to investigate past and current motivators of activity we designed two tools. The first was an ‘Activity History’ chart which encouraged participants to identify transition points in their lives and plot activity levels after and before. (Fig. 4). Second was a card-sorting exercise which attempted to understand the relative influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors that motivated participants to be active (Fig.5). We observed that it is easier to engage someone with an exercise form if they have a prior history of doing that kind of activity. We identified triggers and decelerators of activities in a person’s lives. We have incorporated a feature in the application which recommends individualised exercise programs based on scores in the diagnostics test (Fig. 6). For example, if a low score it would recommend chair-based exercises for improving balance.
Pairing Activity Narratives with an Activity Tracker
Fig. 8: Energy Diaries
In order to identify opportune moments for exercise we designed a tool set. The set consisted of an off-the-shelf activity tracker (Fig. 7) and accompanying energy diaries provided to record participants subjective energy levels throughout the day (Fig. 8). The aim was to gather insights about participants routines, what energises and tires them. Participants had diverse routines, with the number of steps measured varying between 2,200 to 14,000 per day. Some perticipants had very strick, repeatable routines, wheras for others every day was different. For any intervention to be successful is must integrate well into the lives its users. Hence, we are designing a an intervention which might be used at any time of day, at the users convenience. We are considering incorporating functionality which can recognise opportune moments for interventions based on current and prior activity levels.
Conclusions 11:56 AM
Do the Chair based training program
11:56 AM
Lift left leg 90 and replace Do 10 reps
60’
START NOW TRY LATER
Fig 6: Exercise Program Recommendation Screemshots Fig. 3: Balance Diagnosis Prototype and Testing
Based on the insights from the research, we are currently building a digital application which seeks to enhance the capability of an individual to engage with their ‘Balance Health’ by providing both an accessible diagnosis measure and a route to improvement. The diagnosis involves standing on one leg to measure posture postural sway. If done three times a day for one minute on each leg at a time, Unipedal standing also acts as therapeutic exercise for increasing balance and improving body asymmetry.
References 1 The Department of Health. 2014. Falls and Fractures, Effective Interventions in health and social care. London: Older People and Dementia. 2 Age UK. 2012. Falls Prevention - Don’t Mention the F-Word 2012 [Leaflet]. AgeUK: London
This research has been sponsored by Stannah and The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art
