Designing a Digital Patient Companion: Enhancing Engagement in Postoperative Delirium Prevention
Requirements
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Required: Experience in Web development (html/css/javascript, python)
- Desirable: Completion of the lecture on "Human-Computer Interaction" or "Coding IxD"
Contents
Postoperative delirium (POD) is one of the most common complications following surgery in older adults and can have long-term adverse health consequences. Active patient participation in POD prevention is a key factor in reducing these risks.
To support patient engagement through a digital health application, we use value-based design approaches to identify the requirements for patient-centred technology. In particular, we consider the requirements for integrating the perspective of the vulnerable stakeholder group most affected by POD: older adults.
In a recent interview study with older patients, we identified four design requirements for digital health technology to support older patients in engaging in POD prevention activities, namely (1) the need to develop patient-centred communication, (2) measures to empower patients' active engagement in POD, (3) the creation of procedural transparency in healthcare processes, and (4) measures to inform and integrate relatives to support patients.
In this Master's project, you would conceptualize, prototype and evaluate a digital companion that realizes these requirements and supports older adults in their patient journey undergoing surgery.
References:
“Be with me and stay with me”: Insights from Co-Designing a Digital Companion to Support Patients Transitioning from Hospital to Cardiac Rehabilitation
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661633
Prototyping a Zoomorphic Interactive Robot Companion with Emotion Recognition and Affective Voice Interaction for Elderly People
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660244