Applying guidelines for evaluating digital technologies for people living with dementia: A case study
Joddrell, P.; Cudd, P.
Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 217: 204-211
2015
ISSN/ISBN: 0926-9630 PMID: 26294474 Document Number: 685400
Affordable solutions are needed to offer the growing population of people diagnosed with dementia support to maintain independence. Assistive technology has the potential to address this issue but devices should be tailored to the needs of this population. Previous work has focused on the design of such technologies and in new work evaluation (trial) guidelines are proposed to offer consistency amongst researchers looking to test completed products with intended users. The guidelines are implemented as trial protocol guidance and are applied to an existing protocol as a case example of how the guidelines could be used. Differences between the protocol and the guidelines are highlighted and provide evidence as to the potential usefulness of the document in informing an evaluation. The need for further development of the guidelines is also discussed and the authors state their intention to collaborate internationally in order to evolve the framework to the stage where it can be published as an accessible resource.