Co-designing Interactive Digital Platforms for Promoting Physical Health in Older Adults

With every passing day, each one of us is getting older. In Iceland the number of people aged 70 and older is conservatively estimated to double over the next 30 years and rise to become a quarter of the population. Given this information, there is great importance to the task of delaying disability...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gunnarsdóttir, Anna Margrét
Other Authors: Høiseth, Marikken
Format: Master Thesis
Language:English
Published: NTNU 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2776864
Description
Summary:With every passing day, each one of us is getting older. In Iceland the number of people aged 70 and older is conservatively estimated to double over the next 30 years and rise to become a quarter of the population. Given this information, there is great importance to the task of delaying disability as much as possible and for as long as possible (Samúelsson, 2021). This study is intended to identify the needs and wants (requirements and wishes) of the target group of older adults when building a digital platform to help them find motivation to increase or maintain their physical strength with customized training programs. Árvakr is a platform created for the older adults that are not sure how to gain or maintain strength, keeping them motivated by responding to their success. A business version of Árvakr can be used by physiotherapists to communicate with their clients, to create personalized exercise programs and to follow up on their clients’ progress. After reviewing the relevant literature, I conducted a series of interviews to collect as much knowledge as possible. Analysis of the interviews helped to better understand behavior, experiences and needs, and to get knowledge and insights from professionals in the healthcare industry. The interviews helped shape the target group and showed how much of an effect a carefully designed digital platform can have. All collected information was mapped with the use of interaction and service design methods and put into a prototype. This was done through workshops with co-designers and tested by the end users. The final product, having taken into consideration all of the collected input from older adults and physiotherapists, is a design suggestion for the digital platform named Árvakr.