User-Centered Prototype Design of a Health Care Robot for Treating Type 2 Diabetes in the Community Pharmacy:...

Technology can be an effective tool for providing health services and disease self-management, especially in diabetes care. Technology tools for disease self-management include health-related applications for computers and smartphones as well as the use of robots. To provide a more effective continuity of care and to better understand and facilitate disease management in middle-aged and older adult patients with diabetes, robots can be used to improve the quality of care and supplement community health resources, such as community pharmacies.

The aim of this study was to develop a health care robot prototype that can be integrated into current community pharmacies.

Three user-centered approaches were used: (1) review of the literature on technology use among older adults, 2) reference to the seven key diabetes self-care behaviors by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), and (3) meeting with health care providers in the community. Field investigations and interviews were conducted at community pharmacies and diabetes health education centers to determine the appearance, interface, content, and function of the robot.

The results show that diabetes health care prototype robots can be established through user-centered design. The following important features were revealed: (1) perceived ease of use is considered a friendly operating interface; therefore, we used less than 3 buttons in an interface; (2) minimization of the interface between blue and yellow, which is unfriendly to older adults; (3) the health education mode was the most preferred mode with sound, image, and video presentation; (4) the most predilected functions are health education resources and health records, and that patient data can be easily collected through health education games and dialogue with robots; and (5) touching the screen is the most preferred operation mode.

An evidence-based health care robot can be developed through user-centered design, an approach in which a model that connects medical needs to people with health conditions can be built, thereby facilitating the sustainable development of technology in the diabetes care field.