Usability assessment of interaction management support in LOUISE, an ECA-based user interface for elders with cognitive impairment

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Embodied conversational agents (ECA) are possible enablers of assistive technologies, in particular for older adults with cognitive impairment. Yet, dedicated interaction management techniques addressing the specificities of this public are needed. OBJECTIVES: We assess whether the interaction management framework of the LOUISE (Lovely User Interface for Servicing Elders) ECA has the potential to overcome the user interface constraints linked to cognitive impairment. METHODS: LOUISE supports key target-specific features: personalization; attention management; context reminders; image and video displays; a conversation manager for task-oriented interactions; and the foundations for a domain-specific XML-based language for task-oriented assistive scenarios. LOUISE's usability and acceptance were evaluated at the Broca geriatric hospital in Paris. with a group of 14 older adults with either mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) through four simple but realistic assistive scenarios: drinking, taking medicine, measuring blood pressure and choosing the lunch menu. RESULTS: Most 1 of our participants were able to interact with the ECA, succeeded in completing the proposed tasks and enjoyed our design. CONCLUSION: The field usability evaluation of LOUISE's interaction management framework suggests that this suite of interaction techniques can be effective in enabling interfaces for users with MCI or AD.

Evaluating the Facilitators, Barriers, and Medical Outcomes Commensurate with the Use of Assistive Technology to Support People with Dementia: A Systematic Review Literature

“…Three of these studies originated in the United Kingdom, two from Norway, two from the Netherlands, and the rest were from single originations: Greece, United States, Pakistan, Finland, Australia, United Kingdom/Italy/Malaysia, Canada, Sweden, and Taiwan. The theme cognitive stimulation (natural language presentation through a Wizard-of-Oz presentation, intelligent cognitive assistant, computerized help information and interaction project, wearable cameras, and evidence-based reasoning and problem solving training) occurred in 9/48 studies (19%) [26,36,37,51,53,54,58,60,65]. Four of these studies originated from the United Kingdom, while the rest were from single originations: France, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Netherlands/Germany/Belgium.…”

“…These are presented in Table 2. Tables 1 and 2 lists articles in reverse chronological order: 2019 (4) [3,[19][20][21], 2018 (12) [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], 2017 (14) [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47], 2016 (11) [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58], 2015 (7) [59][60][61][62][63][64][65].…”

“…These studies all came from single originations: Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada, Netherlands/Germany/Belgium. The theme development must improve capabilities (false alarms, would only be worn for a few hours due to weight, technical problems, difficult to understand) occurred in 7/75 occurrences (9%) [25,26,29,42,43,48,53]. The theme degenerative nature of dementia complicates the timing of AT used (timing is important -before it is too late, dementia's progressive nature makes useless today AT that may have been helpful only a short while ago, client's reduced cognitive and physical abilities greatly reduces the effectiveness of AT more each day) occurred in 7/75 occurrences (9%) [24,25,36,40,42,45,52].…”

“…Two of these studies originated from the United Kingdom, while the others came from the United States, Spain, and Greece. The theme of increased autonomy occurred in 5/69 occurrences (7%) [23,25,26,30,59]. Two of these studies originated from Sweden, while the others came from Greece, Norway, and France.…”

“…Also, caregivers want AT [36,38,39,43,44,47,53,63], while PWD do not want AT [22][23][24]47,55,62]. Caregivers feel a sense of relief knowing sensors are in place, and they feel these sensors are more ethical than using physical barriers to prevent elopement, but the complex and foreign nature of the sensors coupled with false alarms cause PWD to reject the same devices that increase their sense of autonomy [23,25,26,30,59].…”