Co-Designing Neurorestorative Technology – collaborations between the Biospine Research Project and the Hopkins Centre
Published 15th April 2024
Towards translation of novel neurorehabilitation systems: A practical approach to usability testing
and
Towards co-design of rehabilitation technologies: a collaborative approach to prioritize usability issues.
The inclusion of technology in rehabilitation has the potential to confer great benefits for patients and practitioners. However, the uptake of technology remains limited. To drive uptake, significant effort has been applied to involving end-users in testing of the usability of developed prototypes.
Restricting an end-users role to the provision of feedback only is limited, and does not account for the perspectives of pivotal stakeholders who have the potential to influence the demand and supply dynamics of technologies. One way to address this challenge is to engage a wider range of technical and non-technical stakeholders in the prioritisation of issues identified through usability testing.
In these papers, researchers from the BioSpine Research Project and The Hopkins Centre, supported by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission, propose a novel method to identify and prioritise user feedback through stakeholder consultation and detail a method for integrating feedback into future product iterations. This approach highlights the importance of transdisciplinary collaboration, co-production, respecting and valuing the knowledge of all parties, and sharing power.
Citations:
J, Mitchell., K, Clanchy., and C, Shirota. Towards translation of novel neurorehabilitation systems: A practical approach to usability testing. 2023 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), Singapore, Singapore, 2023, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ICORR58425.2023.10304770.
K. Clanchy, Mitchell, J., Mulholland, K., E. Jurd, Kendall, E., Lloyd, D. G., D. Palipana, Pizzolato, C., & Shirota, C. (2024). Towards co-design of rehabilitation technologies: a collaborative approach to prioritize usability issues. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences, 5. doi.org/10.3389/fresc.2024.1302179
Figure 1: In this project a three-phase process was undertaken to collect and analyze usability data (Phase 1), rate identified usability issues (Phase 2), and generate solutions to improve system usability and acceptability (Phase 3).
End-User Perspectives of the Importance of Rehabilitation Technologies and Related Values for Implementation
Researchers from BioSpine project and The Hopkins Centre, supported by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission, collaborated on a study which explored the importance and value of technology for rehabilitation from the perspectives of the end-users.
Fifty end-users including people with disability, carers, Allied Health practitioners and Medical practitioners provided insight into the importance of technology for rehabilitation and the potential benefits and practical use of technology, the technologies themselves (e.g., innovative, established, stand-alone), and technologies impact on health professionals or the health system as a whole. This paper supports the importance of engaging with multiple stakeholders for the development of technology.
Citation:
C, Shirota., J, Mitchell., & K, Clanchy. End-User Perspectives of the Importance of Rehabilitation Technologies and Related Values for Implementation. 2023 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), Singapore, Singapore, 2023, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/ICORR58425.2023.10304808.
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