Garzo, Ainara, Silva, Paula Alexandra, Garay-Vitoria, Nestor, Hernandez, Erik, Cullen, Stephen, Cochen De Cock, Valerie, Ihalainen, Petra and Villing, Rudi (2018) Design and development of a gait training system for Parkinson’s disease. PLoS ONE, 13 (11). ISSN 1932-6203
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Abstract
Background
Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) is an effective technique to improve gait and reduce
freezing episodes for Persons with Parkinson’s Disease (PwPD). The BeatHealth system,
which comprises a mobile application, gait sensors, and a website, exploits the potential of
the RAS technique. This paper describes the tools used for co-designing and evaluating the
system and discusses the results and conclusions.
Methods
Personas, interviews, use cases, and ethnographic observations were used to define the
functional requirements of the system. Low fidelity prototypes were created for iterative and
incremental evaluation with end-users. Field trials were also performed with the final system. The process followed a user centered design methodology defined for this project with
the aim of building a useful, usable, and easy-to-use system.
Results
Functional requirements of the system were produced as a result of the initial exploration
phase. Building upon these, mock-ups for the BeatHealth system were created. The mobile
application was iterated twice, with the second version of it achieving a rating of 75 when
assessed by participants through the System Usability Scale (SUS). After another iteration
field trials were performed and the mobile application was rated with an average 78.6 using
SUS. Participants rated two website mock-ups, one for health professionals and another for
end-users, as good except from minor issues related to visual design (e.g. font size), which
were resolved in the final version.
Conclusion
The high ratings obtained in the evaluation of the BeatHealth system demonstrate the benefit of applying a user centered design methodology which involves stakeholders from the
very beginning. Other important lessons were learned through the process of design and
development of the system, such as the importance of motivational aspects, the techniques
which work best, and the extra care that has to be taken when evaluating non-functional
mock-ups with end users.
Item Type: | Article |
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Keywords: | Design; development; gait training system; Parkinson’s disease; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > Electronic Engineering |
Item ID: | 12738 |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0207136 |
Depositing User: | Rudi Villing |
Date Deposited: | 14 Apr 2020 10:57 |
Journal or Publication Title: | PLoS ONE |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/12738 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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