Enhancing Caregiver Empowerment Through the Story Mosaic System: Human-Centered Design Approach for Visualizing Older...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Older adult care settings utilize life story approaches for comprehensive care plans.
• Organizing life stories is labor-intensive due to repetitive and fragmented data.
• Existing systems inadequately meet user needs in care services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, develop, and evaluate a digital system for managing older adults' life stories.
• To provide caregivers with tools for effective and visual access to pertinent life story information.
• To streamline the integration of personal narratives into caregiving.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary, user-centered design approach across four phases: requirements, prototyping, refinement workshops, and usability testing.
• Field research conducted in a nursing home to understand caregiver needs and challenges.
• Iterative prototyping and usability testing with caregivers to refine the system.

Main Results:

• Identified key functionalities: life story input, organization, and timeline generation.
• Optimized the system based on user feedback regarding interface, usability, and feature requests.
• The Story Mosaic system demonstrated accessibility and ease of use in usability testing with 7 caregivers, managing 1123 life stories for 16 older adults.

Conclusions:

• The Story Mosaic system effectively supports visual management of older adults' life stories.
• Digital technology and innovative design empower caregivers by integrating personal narratives into care.
• The system has potential for expansion to include informal caregivers and family members.