Geriatrics Research Group, Department of Geriatrics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Reinickendorferstr. 61, Berlin, Germany.
Appl Ergon. 2012 May;43(3):582-7. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2011.09.003. Epub 2011 Oct 1.
In the area of product design and usability, most products are developed for the mass-market by technically oriented designers and developers for use by persons who themselves are also technically adept by today's standards. The demands of older people are commonly not given sufficient consideration within the early developmental process. In the present study, the usability and acceptability of four different devices meant to be worn for the measurement of heart rate or ECG were analyzed on the basis of qualitative subjective user ratings and structured interviews of twelve older participants. The data suggest that there was a relatively high acceptance concerning these belts by older adults but none of the four harnesses was completely usable. Especially problematic to the point of limiting satisfaction among older subjects were problems encountered while adjusting the length of the belt and/or closing the locking mechanism. The two devices intended for dedicated heart rate recording yielded the highest user ratings for design, and were clearly preferred for extended wearing time. Yet for all the devices participants identified several important deficiencies in their design, as well as suggestions for improvement. We conclude that the creation of an acceptable monitoring device for older persons requires designers and developers to consider the special demands and abilities of the target group.
在产品设计和可用性领域，大多数产品都是由技术导向的设计师和开发人员为技术娴熟的大众市场开发的，供当今标准的技术娴熟的人士使用。老年人的需求在早期开发过程中通常没有得到充分考虑。在本研究中，根据十二名老年参与者的定性主观用户评分和结构化访谈，分析了旨在用于测量心率或心电图的四种不同可穿戴设备的可用性和可接受性。数据表明，老年人对这些腰带的接受程度相对较高，但没有一个肩带是完全可用的。调整腰带长度和/或关闭锁定机构时遇到的问题特别成问题，以至于限制了老年受试者的满意度。两款专门用于记录心率的设备在设计方面获得了最高的用户评分，并明显更适合长时间佩戴。然而，对于所有设备，参与者都发现了设计中的一些重要缺陷，并提出了改进建议。我们得出结论，为老年人创建一个可接受的监测设备需要设计师和开发人员考虑目标群体的特殊需求和能力。
