Villalba-Mora Elena, Ferre Xavier, Pérez-Rodríguez Rodrigo, Moral Cristian, Valdés-Aragonés Myriam, Sánchez-Sánchez Alberto, Rodríguez-Mañas Leocadio
Center for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain.
Front Digit Health. 2021 May 7;3:659940. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2021.659940. eCollection 2021.
Population aging threatens the sustainability of welfare systems since it is not accompanied by an extended healthy and independent period in the last years of life. The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) has been shown to be efficient in maintaining the healthy period at the end of the life. Frailty monitoring is typically carried out for an average period of 6 months in clinical settings, while more regular monitoring could prevent the transition to disability. We present the design process of a system for frailty home monitoring based on an adapted CGA and the rationale behind its User eXperience (UX) design. The resulting home monitoring system consists of two devices based on ultrasound sensors, a weight scale, and a mobile application for managing the devices, administering CGA-related questionnaires, and providing alerts. Older users may encounter barriers in their usage of technology. For this reason, usability and acceptability are critical for health monitoring systems addressed to geriatric patients. In the design of our system, we have followed a user-centered process, involving geriatricians and older frail patients by means of co-creation methods. In the iterative process of design and usability testing, we have identified the most effective way of conducting the home-based CGA, not just by replicating the dialogue between the physician and the patient, but by adapting the design to the possibilities and limitations of mobile health for this segment of users. The usability evaluation, carried out with 14 older adults, has proved the feasibility of users older than 70 effectively using our monitoring system, additionally showing an intention over 80% for using the system. It has also provided some insights and recommendations for the design of mobile health systems for older users.
人口老龄化威胁着福利系统的可持续性，因为在生命的最后几年并没有伴随着更长的健康和独立期。综合老年评估（CGA）已被证明在维持生命末期的健康期方面是有效的。在临床环境中，衰弱监测通常平均进行6个月，而更定期的监测可以防止向残疾的转变。我们展示了一个基于适应性CGA的衰弱居家监测系统的设计过程及其用户体验（UX）设计背后的基本原理。最终的居家监测系统由两个基于超声传感器的设备、一个体重秤以及一个用于管理设备、发放与CGA相关问卷并提供警报的移动应用程序组成。老年用户在使用技术时可能会遇到障碍。因此，可用性和可接受性对于针对老年患者的健康监测系统至关重要。在我们系统的设计中，我们遵循了以用户为中心的流程，通过共同创造的方法让老年病医生和体弱的老年患者参与进来。在设计和可用性测试的迭代过程中，我们确定了进行居家CGA的最有效方式，不仅是通过复制医生与患者之间的对话，还通过使设计适应这部分用户移动健康的可能性和局限性。对14名老年人进行的可用性评估证明了70岁以上用户有效使用我们监测系统的可行性，另外还显示出超过80%的使用该系统的意愿。它还为老年用户移动健康系统的设计提供了一些见解和建议。
