A Multipurpose Platform for Ambient Assisted Living (ActiveAdvice): Usability Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND The world population is experiencing a demographic shift, which translates into a rising proportion of older people among their inhabitants. This is slowly making way for new markets for care products and services to open. The desire of older people to maintain their independence, while remaining at home, boosted the development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions, which can assist them in a variety of ways, in line with their needs when growing older. OBJECTIVE The lack of dissemination of the area, paired with an absence of user-centered and participatory design approaches in these products' development, sided by the low level of adoption of technology by older adults, hinders the uptake of these solutions. The ActiveAdvice platform aims to deliver a web environment for older adults and their relatives, AAL business representatives, as well as governments and municipalities involved in ageing issues across Europe, offering a holistic market overview of AAL products and services, and combining it with a group of valuable functionalities. METHODS Usability tests were performed on the developed platform among a section of its identified end users, in order to evaluate the level of interest, feasibility and usability. The general goal was ultimately to identify the extent to which the interface facilitated a user's ability and motivation to navigate the platform. Therefore, the tests aimed to analyze the usability and attractiveness of the web interface design, information flow, and information architecture by resourcing to the collection of both objective and subjective measures. These would include pre and post-test surveys, along with a series of think-aloud tasks to be performed within the platform. RESULTS Outcomes clarified that the platform's functionalities are mostly aligned with the needs and expectations of the selected end users, as they are actually interested in using it, provided the interaction is simple and familiar. The tests still advocate for an improved design at some points and better disclosure of information, although task completion rates were high, and participants had a satisfying experience when navigating the platform, mostly brought by the recognition of a sense of purpose. CONCLUSIONS The AAL field could definitely benefit from more tools of knowledge and promulgation, so there is a need to create a functional platform which is to be used not only by older adults but also caretakers, business owners and governmental employees. Not only that, but simultaneously being responsible for disseminating the importance of AAL, available solutions, and how they can improve one's quality of life. It can be challenging, but the findings enlightened us on a few peculiarities on interface design, information architecture, user needs and preferred functionalities, which should be applied on future developments of similar platforms with related services.