Lessons from an evaluation of a domestic well-being indicator system
Nubia M. Gil · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08) · doi:10.1145/1414471.1414553
Summary
This short paper presents an evaluation of a domestic well-being indicator system designed to present sensor-collected data from older people's homes through two distinct user interfaces — one for the older person and one for their carer. The system tracks well-being indicators including mobility, sleeping, eating and drinking, personal hygiene, and medical conditions, displaying them through graphical and textual data. The study aimed to determine whether the prototype could enrich the dialogue of care between older people and their carers. Twenty participants were recruited: ten older people aged 60 to 80 and ten carers (including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, scheme managers, wardens, and a social worker) with varying computer skills. Each of the ten evaluation sessions paired one older person with one carer across three parts: an individual exercise exploring the software for 5 minutes and completing tasks for 45 minutes (checking mobility, sleeping, eating, hygiene, and medical conditions in graphs), a pair exercise where the older person and carer worked together for 45 minutes using either interface, and a semi-structured interview with both participants and a facilitator. A real scenario involving a diabetic person with medication changes was used. Data were coded using NVivo and analyzed using grounded theory.
Key findings
All participants felt the interface improved the dialogue of care between older person and carer, with average usefulness scores of 4.6 out of 5. The prototype promoted greater understanding and gave carers greater confidence in the quality and relevance of care being given. Initial familiarity was a challenge — some older people and carers felt unconfident, nervous, and anxious at the beginning, but became more relaxed as they grew familiar with the system. Participants with basic computer skills had problems understanding the graphs, and carers with basic skills had difficulty comparing graphs since the prototype did not show two graphs on the same screen. However, those with intermediate or advanced skills found the graphs clear and easy to understand. All participants liked the buttons with text, image, graph, and statement format, as the images helped them remember the meaning of options. The pair exercise was found particularly enjoyable because the older person and carer helped each other understand the graphs, creating a natural basis for care dialogue. Average scores were 4.2 (older people) and 3.6 (carers) for intuitiveness, and 4.5 and 4.7 respectively for learnability.
Relevance
This study provides practical insights into designing health monitoring interfaces that serve both older adults and their carers. The finding that paired interaction — older person and carer working together — produced the most meaningful engagement highlights an often-overlooked design consideration: assistive technologies for aging populations should facilitate shared understanding rather than simply presenting data to one party. For accessibility practitioners, the study reinforces several important principles: the need for multiple representations of data (buttons with text, images, graphs, and summary statements), the challenge of graph literacy among users with basic computer skills, and the importance of gradual familiarization with new technology. The work also points to the need for personalization in these systems and for providing reference ranges (normal values) to help users interpret the data meaningfully. While the sample size is small, the mixed-methods evaluation approach combining individual tasks, collaborative exercises, and semi-structured interviews offers a useful model for evaluating assistive technologies with older adult populations.
Tags: aging · telecare · well-being monitoring · older adults · caregiving · user interface design · data visualization · independent living