Design of an Augmented Reality Health Activity Platform for Older Adults Living in Long-Term Care

Abstract

As the Canadian population continues to age efforts have been focussed on finding innovative strategies to promote active aging throughout the aging process and well into long-term care (LTC). The increased use of innovative technologies has been identified as a leading strategy to promote participation in health activities among older adults in LTC. However, technology use by older adults remains a challenge and participatory design (PD) frameworks must be used to design user-centered technologies with favourable acceptance and uptake. Hence, this thesis aimed to identify design requirements for an augmented reality health activity gaming platform for use in LTC. A participatory design framework was used with the objectives of (1) exploring the current attitudes, usage, benefits and challenges regarding the use of technology, (2) gathering preliminary data on the attitudes of older adults and staff in LTC regarding the inclusion of an augmented reality health activity platform and (3) reflecting on the process of employing a PD approach with older adults and other stakeholders in the context of LTC. Focus group data was used to perform qualitative inductive thematic analysis on older adult and staff discussions. The findings of the research included a current understanding of technological needs and uses within LTC, facilitators and barriers to technology uptake as well as the integration process of technology in LTC. In addition, findings included pragmatic design requirements for the augmented reality health activity platform at the selected LTC facility. This thesis research addresses the need to engage in PD activities to create a platform anchored in person-driven design rather than technology-driven design. This research ultimately builds the foundation for which future technology design teams should involve relevant stakeholders in the ideation, prototyping and evaluation of novel technologies for LTC.