ATHENE:

Assistive Technologies for Healthy Living in Elders: Needs Assessment by Ethnography

Design4Health Tutorial on the'Co-production of assisted living technologies and services'

Sheffield Hallam University, July 2013.

We will explore solutions to the challenges of understanding the assisted living needs of older people in domestic settings, and ways for involving them and their carers in the co-production of assisted living technologies and services. The aim is to develop an appreciation of the benefits and the various practical issues involved in facilitating a 'bricolage' approach to the dependable co-production of assisted living technologies. There will be a strong practical focus with an emphasis on active participation.

The session will be of value to people involved in the design and development of assisted living technologies, health and social care professionals involved in planning, management and delivery of assisted living services, CSCW and social science researchers, and commercial researchers and consultants working in the field.

Topics covered include
o Ethnographic methods
o Case studies of assisted living needs
o Co-production and bricolage challenges

Comprehensive notes will be provided and other relevant material will be available on the ATHENE website.

The presenters – from Queen Mary University of London, Warwick and Lancaster Universities, and Barts Health NHS Trust – are particularly associated with developments in methodologies for the study of domestic environments and practices associated with the participative design and co-production of technologies.

http://www.design4health.org. uk/

 

Tutorial preparation

Click on the links below to see 2 short case studies of 'ageing in place' drawn from the ATHENE project fieldwork.

1. Thennan and Tisha
2. Walter

Once you have read through them, consider what your answers would be to the following questions:

1. Bearing in mind what matters to this person, how could their life be improved through an assisted living technology or service?

 2. What would be the issues/challenges in implementing one of these solutions; how would these be overcome?

 3. How might the technology or service be sustained and adapted over time?