PeerCare: Supporting Awareness of Rhythms and Routines for Better Aging in Place

Caring for the elderly is becoming a key challenge for society, given the shortage of trained personnel and the increased age of the population. Innovative approaches are needed to help the elderly remain at home longer and more safely, that is, to age in place. One popular strategy is to monitor the activity of the elderly: this focuses on obtaining information for caregivers rather than supporting the elderly directly. We propose an alternative, i.e. to enhance their inter-personal communication. We report the results of a user study with 14 independent elderly women and discuss the existing role that communication plays in maintaining their independence and well-being. We highlight the importance of peer support relationships, which we call PeerCare, and how awareness of each other’s rhythms and routines helps them to stay in touch. We then describe the deployment of a technology probe, called markerClock, which a pair of elderly friends used to improve their awareness of each other’s rhythms and routines. We conclude with a discussion of how such communication appliances enhance the awareness of rhythms and routines among elderly peers and can improve their quality of life and provide safer and more satisfying aging in place.

[1]  Robert J. Anderson,et al.  Representations and Requirements: The Value of Ethnography in System Design , 1994, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[2]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[3]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  Media Spaces: Environments for Informal Multimedia Interaction , 1999 .

[4]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  The interactive thread: exploring methods for multi-disciplinary design , 2004, DIS '04.

[5]  Joseph Kaye,et al.  Communicating intimacy one bit at a time , 2005, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[6]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  HCI, natural science and design: a framework for triangulation across disciplines , 1997, DIS '97.

[7]  Jean-Daniel Fekete,et al.  Melange: space folding for multi-focus interaction , 2008, CHI.

[8]  Sara A. Bly,et al.  Media spaces: bringing people together in a video, audio, and computing environment , 1993, CACM.

[9]  J. Hughes,et al.  Designing with Care: Adapting Cultural Probes to Inform Design in Sensitive Settings , 2003 .

[10]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Mediating intimacy: designing technologies to support strong-tie relationships , 2005, CHI.

[11]  Nicolas Roussel,et al.  MirrorSpace: Using Proximity as an Interface to Video-Mediated Communication , 2004, Pervasive.

[12]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  MarkerClock: A Communicating Augmented Clock for Elderly , 2007, INTERACT.

[13]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  Telebeads: social network mnemonics for teenagers , 2006, IDC '06.

[14]  Steve Benford,et al.  Ambiguity as a resource for design , 2003, CHI '03.

[15]  Abigail Sellen,et al.  The whereabouts clock: early testing of a situated awareness device , 2006, CHI EA '06.

[16]  Nicolas Roussel,et al.  Exploring New Uses of Video with VideoSpace , 2001, EHCI.

[17]  Theo van Tilburg,et al.  FLOW OF SUPPORT , 1995 .

[18]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[19]  P Whitten,et al.  Nurse and patient reactions to a developmental home telecare system , 1998, Journal of telemedicine and telecare.

[20]  Leysia Palen,et al.  Of pill boxes and piano benches: "home-made" methods for managing medication , 2006, CSCW '06.

[21]  K. Wright.  Computer-Mediated Social Support, Older Adults, and Coping. , 2000 .

[22]  Brendan Walker,et al.  Cultural probes and the value of uncertainty , 2004, INTR.

[23]  Mario Romero,et al.  Tableau machine: an alien presence in the home , 2006, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[24]  Elizabeth D. Mynatt,et al.  Digital family portraits: supporting peace of mind for extended family members , 2001, CHI.

[25]  D. Perlman,et al.  Long-Standing Nonkin Relationships of Older Adults in the Netherlands and the United States , 2006 .

[26]  Tobie Kerridge,et al.  Enhancing ubiquitous computing with user interpretation: field testing the home health horoscope , 2007, CHI.

[27]  Jodi Forlizzi,et al.  The Hug: an exploration of robotic form for intimate communication , 2003, The 12th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2003. Proceedings. ROMAN 2003..

[28]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  Using video to support interaction design , 2002 .

[29]  Norbert Noury,et al.  An Experimental Health Smart Home and Its Distributed Internet-based Information and Communication System: First Steps of a Research Project , 2001, MedInfo.

[30]  Alex S. Taylor,et al.  The Gift of the Gab?: A Design Oriented Sociology of Young People's Use of Mobiles , 2003, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[31]  Alan F. Newell,et al.  Introducing the Internet to the over-60s: Developing an email system for older novice computer users , 2005, Interact. Comput..

[32]  John C. Tang,et al.  Work rhythms: analyzing visualizations of awareness histories of distributed groups , 2002, CSCW '02.

[33]  Pearl A. Dykstra,et al.  Living arrangements and social networks of older adults , 1996 .

[34]  Mario Romero,et al.  Living with tableau machine: a longitudinal investigation of a curious domestic intelligence , 2008, UbiComp.

[35]  Bo Edvardsson,et al.  Critical incident techniques: Towards a framework for analysing the criticality of critical incidents , 2001 .

[36]  Jeanne M. Donaldson,et al.  Loneliness in elderly people: an important area for nursing research. , 1996, Journal of advanced nursing.

[37]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  Generative walkthroughs: to support creative redesign , 2009, C&C '09.

[38]  G. Glonek,et al.  Effect of social networks on 10 year survival in very old Australians: the Australian longitudinal study of aging , 2005, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[39]  Boris E. R. de Ruyter,et al.  Daily Activities Diarist: Supporting Aging in Place with Semantically Enriched Narratives , 2007, INTERACT.

[40]  William W. Gaver,et al.  Design: Cultural probes , 1999, INTR.

[41]  Tobie Kerridge,et al.  Anatomy of a failure: how we knew when our design went wrong, and what we learned from it , 2009, CHI.

[42]  Alex S. Taylor,et al.  Locating Family Values: A Field Trial of the Whereabouts Clock , 2007, UbiComp.

[43]  A. Sixsmith.  An evaluation of an intelligent home monitoring system , 2000, Journal of telemedicine and telecare.

[44]  Frank Bentley,et al.  Sharing motion information with close family and friends , 2007, CHI.

[45]  M. Mauss.  The gift : Forms and functions of exchange in Archaic Societies / Marcel Mauss , 2020 .

[46]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  Making space for stories: ambiguity in the design of personal communication systems , 2005, CHI.

[47]  Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn,et al.  Keeping in touch with the family: home and away with the ASTRA awareness system , 2004, CHI EA '04.

[48]  Jay Lundell,et al.  New Perspectives on Ubiquitous Computing from Ethnographic Study of Elders with Cognitive Decline , 2003, UbiComp.

[49]  Joshua M. Averbeck,et al.  Computer-Mediated Social Support , 2011 .

[50]  Elizabeth D. Mynatt,et al.  Digital Family Portrait Field Trial: Support for Aging in Place , 2005, CHI.

[51]  M. Cantor,et al.  Neighbors and Friends , 1979 .

[52]  Mark A. Runco,et al.  Creativity and Cognition , 2001 .

[53]  Jon F. Nussbaum,et al.  Communication and Aging , 1989 .

[54]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  Sharing empty moments: design for remote couples , 2009, CHI.

[55]  Fabio Pianesi,et al.  Knocking on elders' door: investigating the functional and emotional geography of their domestic space , 2009, CHI.

[56]  Allison Druin,et al.  Technology probes: inspiring design for and with families , 2003, CHI '03.

[57]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Domestic Routines and Design for the Home , 2004, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[58]  Elizabeth D. Mynatt,et al.  Learning from seniors in network communities , 1999, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[59]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  Sharing daily-life images with videoProbe , 2003, IHM '03.