Article

PURPOSE: We drew on an interdisciplinary research design to examine stroke
survivors' experiences of living with stroke and with technology in order to
provide technology developers with insight into values, thoughts and feelings of
the potential users of a to-be-designed robotic technology for home-based
rehabilitation of the hand and wrist. METHOD: Ten stroke survivors and their
family carers were purposefully selected. On the first home visit, they were
introduced to cultural probe.
On the second visit, the content of the probe packs
were used as prompt to conduct one-to-one interviews with them. The data
generated was analysed using thematic analysis. A third home visit was conducted
to evaluate the early prototype. RESULTS: User requirements were categorised into
their network of relationships, their attitude towards technology, their skills,
their goals and motivations. The user requirements were used to envision the
requirements of the system including providing feedback on performance,
motivational aspects and usability of the system. Participants' views on the
system requirements were obtained during a participatory evaluation. CONCLUSION:
This study showed that prior to the development of technology, it is important to
engage with potential users to identify user requirements and subsequently
envision system requirements based on users' views. Implications for
Rehabilitation An understanding of how stroke survivors make sense of their
experiences of living with stroke is needed to design home-based rehabilitation
technologies. Linking stroke survivors' goals, motivations, behaviour, feelings
and attitude to user requirements prior to technology development has a
significant impact on improving the design.

Langue : ANGLAIS