A user-centered design approach in the development of rehabilitation devices after stroke

Involving users in iterative development processes is to be shown to increase the quality of health care devices and to prevent refusal. Successful use can only be achieved provided that the devices are accepted by its users. In this study potentials of user satisfaction surveys in the development of stroke rehabilitation devices are presented. The two arm-training devices Reha-Slide (RS) and Bi-Manu-Track (BMT) are assessed for patient satisfaction. The aim is to detect the satisfaction with the current state of certain aspects of the devices to obtain incentives for technical optimisation. Correlation analyses from the data of 18 patients show significant positive correlations between satisfaction with the introduction and the personal well-being during training with both devices, whereas no significant correlations are found between satisfaction with the introduction and the perceived safety. In the RS sample, a higher satisfaction with the training also correlates with a higher feeling of improvement. The results are used to derive improvement suggestions tailored to the systems and its users. The surveys are conducted as a method for improving the ongoing design process of innovative technical devices developed in the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funded project "BeMobil".