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Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Architecture

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Development and evaluation of a design tool for occupational therapists to facilitate co-design of assistive technology with designers
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-05-05) Lee, Su Jin
    Development of effective assistive technology (AT) for individuals for disabilities necessitates close collaboration between occupational therapists (OTs) and designers. Currently, their successful collaboration is hampered by absence of a common language; as a result, clinical insight necessary for creating effective AT are poorly integrated into the design process. This problem can be attributed, in large part, to OTs’ inability to communicate with designers in design-actionable language. For successful ATs to be developed, OTs must be able to translate their clinical understanding of task-performance deficits into task-relevant design attributes that are necessary for designers to make informed design decisions. To enhance OT’s ability to communicate their expertise to designers and, therefore, be a better co-design partner in the co-design process, the aims of this dissertation were to: 1) develop the Dyadic Transfer Performance Instrument (DTPI), a tool designed to help OTs articulate, in design-relevant terms, clinical knowledge pertinent to designing AT interventions for caregiver-assisted transfers, 2) Conduct co-design workshops to engage OTs and designers to i) identify task-related problems with transfers from a pre-recorded video; ii) generate concepts for AT solutions, with and without DTPI, for a real-life case (based on a caregiving dyad experiencing transfer performance difficulties), and 3) Evaluate the usefulness of the DTPI, as measured by the extent to which its use: 1) increases OT’s active engagement in the co-design process; 2) increases OT’s use of design-relevant terms, and 3) improves the experience of participants during the co-design process. The primary output of this dissertation is a tool that empowers OTs to be co-equals in the co-design process, a pre-requisite for co-design teams to create more informative design criteria grounded in task-relevant design characteristics. The DTPI consists of several features: 1) a tag function that allow users to analyze environmental interactions during performance at fine-gained task levels, 2) prompts that facilitate consideration of all relevant design characteristics and attributes, and 3) compilation of data to easily visualize results in a way that supports generating design insights. Analysis of the co-design workshops indicate that the DTPI helps OTs to anchor their clinical assessments in more design relevant terms, increase the efficiency at which their assessments are communicated to designers, and increase their proactive contribution in the brainstorming phase of the co-design process. This project has several short- and long-term outcomes. Most immediately, it demonstrates the feasibility of a tool-mediated co-design method to foster more effective collaboration between OTs and designers. Adoption of more effective co-design methods will, over time, result in more effective AT solutions for transfer performance for which there are persisting unmet needs. Further, more effective AT solutions will improve transfer performance, thus enabling individuals aging with disability to remain at home longer, as well as reduce the physical strain on caregivers.
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    Development and validation of the universal design mobile interface guidelines through a mHealth application for individuals aging with multiple sclerosis
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-07-30) Kascak, Ljilja
    Similar to people who experience normal aging, mobile technologies provide great potential to support people aging with disability. However, there is a dearth of prior research on the needs and abilities of this user population. A large number of people with disabilities acquired in early or middle life are living longer. These individuals are experiencing the effects of aging earlier than others. Additionally, individuals aging with disabilities experience a combination of pre-existing impairments and age-related limitations, which often leads to a newly acquired age-related functional losses, comorbidities, and secondary age-related conditions. Although younger adults with disabilities may compensate for their impairments through the use of technologies, devices, and techniques, newly developed age-related limitations can reduce the effectiveness of these alternative approaches and reduce the quality of life (QOL). Mobile technology provides great potential to help individuals aging with disabilities to meet their needs. Nevertheless, there is a need for further research to solve the problems with access, usability, and utility to better understand the individualized preferences and support the needs of this unique population. Moreover, this imposes the need for personalized technologies that assist people aging with disabilities to adapt to the challenges of later life and to improve their QOL. Several design strategies are used to address the usability issues of desktop and mobile interfaces that are relevant for an aging population. Four of the most commonly applied strategies include Universal Design, Design for Aging, Universal Usability, and Guidelines for handheld mobile device interface design. Analysis of the guidelines suggested that none of the four strategies alone were sufficiently comprehensive and inclusive enough to meet the range and diversity of usability needs of older adults including those aging with disabilities within the environment of mobile interfaces. The purpose of this research project was to develop a comprehensive integrative universal design strategy, the Universal Design Mobile Interface Guidelines (UDMIG) for people aging with and without disabilities. The mobile health (mHealth) self-management holistic application that meets the health and wellness needs of individuals aging with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and provides personalized and customizable support, MS Assistant, was designed and evaluated. The UDMIG were validated through their application to the design of the mHealth app.
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    Design for behavior change: Evaluating the effect of motivational design strategies to support physical activity among older adults
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-10-26) Harrington, Christina Nicole
    Maintenance of health and physical well-being contribute to the overall quality of life for individuals as they age. Despite the known benefits of maintaining routine levels of physical activity, many adults aged 65 and older do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity. There has been an emergence of interactive health-related technologies in the form of mobile applications and exergame systems that encourage physical activity and other health-related behaviors through monitoring, tracking, and displaying real-time information based on a user’s actions. Many of these technologies employ principles of design for behavior change in their approach to encourage a specific behavior outcome. Although there is potential for mobile health technologies to encourage physical activity, these technologies often see low and inconsistent usage rates or quick abandonment due to lack of motivational affordance and poor design consideration. This area has yet to be studied in depth for the older adult population specifically. This dissertation research defines and evaluates inclusive motivational strategies that can be implemented in the design of mobile health technologies targeting physical activity behaviors among older adults. Through qualitative interviews, psychological constructs of physical activity were explored and analyzed for relevant motivating factors that would encourage physical activity engagement. As a result, six motivational design strategies were proposed based on identified motivators such as social influence and goal support, which have been established as effective strategies in behavioral programs. In a semi-longitudinal study, these strategies were examined for effectiveness and user acceptance by deploying mobile fitness apps that implemented these individual strategies. Thirty-nine older adults were assigned a mobile fitness app to engage with for a 10-week period where their physical activity, app usage, and attitudes towards mobile health and fitness apps were assessed. Findings from this study indicate that social influence showed trends of improving participants physical activity behaviors from baseline, but was less accepted as a motivational design strategy in its current implementation. Goal support was found to be a more desired motivational design strategy. Additionally, participants expressed the desire for a more holistic approach to health and activity tracking, incorporating such metrics as sleep, hydration, and pain management. These findings informed a set of design criteria and guidelines for effective health and fitness technologies that are not only motivationally framed but that leverage universal and inclusive design principles. The design of a potential health tracking app was designed as an immediate outcome of this dissertation research.
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    Impact of universal design ballot interfaces on voting performance and satisfaction of people with and without vision loss
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015-01-12) Lee, Seunghyun
    Since the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002 that addressed improvements to voting systems and voter access through the use of electronic technologies, electronic voting systems have improved in U.S. elections. However, voters with disabilities have been disappointed and frustrated, because they have not been able to vote privately and independently (Runyan, 2007). Voting accessibility for individuals with disabilities has generally been accomplished through specialized designs, providing the addition of alternative inputs (e.g., headphones with tactile keypad for audio output, sip-and-puff) and outputs (e.g., audio output) to existing hardware and/or software architecture. However, while the add-on features may technically be accessible, they are often complex and difficult for poll workers to set up and require more time for targeted voters with disabilities to use compared to the direct touch that enable voters without disabilities to select any candidate in a particular contest at any time. To address the complexities and inequities with the accessible alternatives, a universal design (UD) approach was used to design two experimental ballot interfaces, namely EZ Ballot and QUICK Ballot, that seamlessly integrate accessible features (e.g., audio output) based on the goal of designing one voting system for all. EZ Ballot presents information linearly (i.e., one candidate’s name at a time) and voters can choose Yes or No inputs that does not require search (i.e., finding a particular name). QUICK Ballot presents multiple names that allow users to choose a name using direct-touch or gesture-touch interactions (e.g., the drag and lift gesture). Despite the same goal of providing one type of voting system for all voters, each ballot has a unique selection and navigation process designed to facilitate access and participation in voting. Thus, my proposed research plan was to examine the effectiveness of the two UD ballots primarily with respect to their different ballot structures in facilitating voting performance and satisfaction for people with a range of visual abilities including those with blindness or vision loss. The findings from this work show that voters with a range of visual abilities were able to use both ballots independently. However, as expected, the voter performance and preferences of each ballot interface differed by voters through the range of visual abilities. While non-sighted voters made fewer errors on the linear ballot (EZ Ballot), partially-sighted and sighted voters completed the random access ballot (QUICK Ballot) in less time. In addition, a higher percentage of non-sighted participants preferred the linear ballot, and a higher percentage of sighted participants preferred the random ballot. The main contributions of this work are in: 1) utilizing UD principles to design ballot interfaces that can be differentially usable by voters with a range of abilities; 2) demonstrating the feasibility of two UD ballot interfaces by voters with a range of visual abilities; 3) providing an impact for people with a range of visual abilities on other applications. The study suggests that the two ballots, both designed according to UD principles but with different weighting of principles, can be differentially usable by individuals with a range of visual abilities. This approach clearly distinguishes this work from previous efforts, which have focused on developing one UD solution for everyone because UD does not dictate a single solution for everyone (e.g., a one-size-fits-all approach), but rather supports flexibility in use that provide a new perspective into human-computer interaction (Stephanidis, 2001).