背景:辅助技术正变得越来越容易获得和负担得起,以支持痴呆症患者及其在家中生活的护理伙伴,具有基于技术的提示的强大潜力,以协助启动和跟踪复杂的,日常生活的多步骤活动。然而,有有限的直接比较不同的提示功能,以指导优化技术设计。
目的:在3个实验中,我们调查了基于平板电脑的提示功能,这些提示可以最好地支持痴呆症患者完成在家的日常生活活动,测量及时的有效性,并从痴呆症患者及其护理伙伴那里获得关于他们经历的反馈。
方法:跨实验,我们开发了一个专门的iPad应用程序,以便在延长的实验期间在家中收集痴呆症患者的数据。在实验1中,我们将提示改为3(视觉类型:文本指令,标志性图像,和摄影图像)×3(音频类型:无声音,象征性的声音,和口头指导)实验设计,在涉及单步活动的多个测试会话中使用重复措施。在实验2中,我们比较了3个条件(1-提示,3-提示,和7提示条件)。在实验3中,我们比较了涉及听觉音调或听觉音调结合口头指示的启动和维护警报。在整个过程中,我们要求痴呆症患者及其护理伙伴反思促进技术在日常生活中的有用性,以及可以开发哪些技术来更好地满足他们的需求。
结果:首先,我们的结果显示,与基于语气或视觉提示相比,可听口头提示对任务完成更有用.第二,更细粒度的任务分解通常更有用,更多的独立使用,但这在不同的个体之间是不同的。第三,虽然语音或文本维护警报使痴呆症患者能够在更频繁的情况下坚持更长时间的多步骤任务,任务启动仍然经常需要护理伙伴的支持。
结论:这些发现可以帮助辅助技术的开发人员了解促进家庭提示系统对痴呆症患者的有用性的设计功能,以及痴呆症患者及其护理伙伴对辅助技术设计的偏好和见解。
BACKGROUND: Assistive technology is becoming increasingly accessible and affordable for supporting people with dementia and their care partners living at home, with strong potential for technology-based prompting to assist with initiation and tracking of complex, multistep activities of daily living. However, there is limited direct comparison of different prompt features to guide optimal technology design.
OBJECTIVE: Across 3 experiments, we investigated the features of tablet-based prompts that best support people with dementia to complete activities of daily living at home, measuring prompt effectiveness and gaining feedback from people with dementia and their care partners about their experiences.
METHODS: Across experiments, we developed a specialized iPad app to enable data collection with people with dementia at home over an extended experimental period. In experiment 1, we varied the prompts in a 3 (visual type: text instruction, iconic image, and photographic image) × 3 (audio type: no sound, symbolic sound, and verbal instruction) experimental design using repeated measures across multiple testing sessions involving single-step activities. In experiment 2, we tested the most effective prompt breakdown for complex multistep tasks comparing 3 conditions (1-prompt, 3-prompt, and 7-prompt conditions). In experiment 3, we compared initiation and maintenance alerts that involved either an auditory tone or an auditory tone combined with a verbal instruction. Throughout, we asked people with dementia and their care partners to reflect on the usefulness of prompting technology in their everyday lives and what could be developed to better meet their needs.
RESULTS: First, our results showed that audible verbal instructions were more useful for task completion than either tone-based or visual prompts. Second, a more granular breakdown of tasks was generally more useful and increased independent use, but this varied across individuals. Third, while a voice or text maintenance alert enabled people with dementia to persist with a multistep task for longer when it was more frequent, task initiation still frequently required support from a care partner.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings can help inform developers of assistive technology about the design features that promote the usefulness of home prompting systems for people with dementia as well as the preferences and insights of people with dementia and their care partners regarding assistive technology design.