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N. González, A. Kämäräinen, O. Kalla, M. Luštrek, M. Gams, I. Vélez.Two-stage older people’s independent living needs and opinions about the confidence system’s specification. OASIS 1^st International Conference. Florence, Italy. 4^th-5^th Nov 2009

Abstract:

Following a user-centred approach, in a first stage twenty-three older people participated in individual structured interviews. These aimed at identifying end-users’ needs and requirements to feed the specifications of the ubiquitous care system to support older peoples’ independent living, CONFIDENCE. Five types of user needs to guide the design process were obtained. Health and aging effects are important factors to consider whilst designing care systems for all. Physical impairments affect people’s ability to interact with technical systems. Use and attitudes towards technology describe the potential ability of the end-users to operate existing technologies, and whether they are willing or not to learn and utilise the system. The system should work anytime and anywhere, i.e., it should be ubiquitous. The results suggested that older people live active lives, but fears and barriers exist which might restrict them. It is important that CONFIDENCE is able to support older people whether they are at home, at the country cottage or visiting friends. We consider taking into account the point of view of the end-users to be an important step. Other important features of CONFIDENCE include: immediate operation in the case of sudden problems; and being otherwise unnoticeable.