Ensuring Effective Adoption of COMFORTage Technologies: Evaluating User Acceptance for Dementia and Frailty Care
COMFORTage aims to develop a comprehensive and integrated healthcare model that supports personalised prevention and intervention of dementia and frailty, ultimately improving individuals’ physical and mental well-being. The project leverages consortium partners’ clinical and technical expertise to design tailored preventive and therapeutic approaches within an integrated care model. The COMFORTage framework builds upon existing research and evidence-based practices, integrating clinical knowledge, behavioural science, ethical, and societal factors to help sustainable lifestyle changes that enhance overall health, well-being, and quality of life (QoL).
Furthermore, COMFORTage aims to assess the impact of its suite of personalised and integrated solutions through innovative Healthcare Technology Assessment (HTA) tools. These assessments will offer data-driven insights, supporting evidence-based decision-making in the challenging fight against dementia and frailty.
User-Oriented Design
User-oriented design is central to COMFORTage, as the project integrates robust co-creation and co-design elements through its community-driven approaches in WP2, ensuring the needs and preferences of target users are considered from the early solutions design stage. The social impact and usability assessment in WP7 will generate key insights into the behavioural and psychological factors that shape attitudes toward COMFORTage technologies, ultimately influencing their acceptance and adoption. The knowledge gained will deepen the understanding of public acceptance drivers and provide guidelines to accelerate this process for both COMFORTage and future research initiatives.
Co-Creation Workshops and User Feedback
In this regard, it is essential to emphasise the value of the work conducted so far in WP2, particularly in task T2.2, through the Co-creation Workshops held during the project’s first year. These sessions, at first, involved key stakeholders in the development of Blueprint Personas and secondly showcased the technologies to be implemented in the project’s thirteen pilot programs. This allowed the collection of feedback providing a first assessment of user needs and a preliminary evaluation of the strengths and potential challenges in implementing these innovative solutions, ensuring a focus on usability and a people-centred approach.
Challenges in Clinical Workflow Integration
In the daily clinical workflow, the absence of integrated data, such as lifestyle information, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs), hinders clinicians from making fully personalised treatment decisions. This limitation reduces the effectiveness of prevention and intervention strategies, restricts patient-centred interactions among healthcare personnel (HCP), patients, and caregivers, and constrains the potential of advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) in delivering precise risk prediction, prevention, and intervention.
Use of Advanced Technologies in COMFORTage
In this regard, COMFORTage aims to use advanced technologies, such as digital platform solutions, alongside integrated data spaces and knowledge bases that can significantly enhance personalised recommendations, prevention strategies, and intervention measures. Incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices will further contribute to cost-effective solutions, enabling HCPs to provide targeted, individualised care while promoting digital health literacy, behavioural habits, training, and support. Such solutions are designed in a patient-centric approach, developing every functionality of the tool as intuitive as possible to provide patients of different ages with a friendly and engaging interface.
Evaluating User Acceptance
Evaluating user acceptance is a crucial aspect of the COMFORTage project, as it ensures that the developed technologies effectively meet the needs of individuals experiencing dementia and frailty. By assessing usability, user experience, and acceptance, the systems can be refined to enhance both functionality and accessibility, ultimately fostering a more seamless integration into healthcare and daily life.
Phase-Based Evaluation Process
Within WP7, Task 7.4 focuses specifically on usability, acceptance, and user experience assessment methods. To initiate the process, task partners have begun brainstorming sessions to identify proper questionnaires and determine the relevant target user groups. Additionally, a set of exploratory questions on usability assessment methods has been distributed to the thirteen pilot partners.
In-Lab and Real-World Evaluation
On task T7.4, the evaluation process is structured in two key phases. Initially, in-lab assessments will be conducted before the commencement of trials to identify and resolve usability challenges at an early stage. These assessments will involve controlled experiments with participants from relevant demographic groups, allowing researchers to gather preliminary insights into systems’ usability, intuitiveness, and potential barriers to adoption. Subsequently, real-world evaluations will take place, providing insights from both clinical and non-clinical settings. This iterative approach allows for continuous optimisation based on real-user feedback, improving system reliability and effectiveness.
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
One of the primary theoretical models guiding this evaluation is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM establishes a correlation between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, user attitude towards technology, and actual system usage. By leveraging this model, key factors can be identified influencing user adoption and potential barriers to implementation can be addressed. Additionally, well-established evaluation methods such as heuristic evaluation, System Usability Scale (SUS), User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), and the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) will be employed to ensure a comprehensive analysis. Each of these methods provides unique insights into different aspects of user acceptance, from perceived ease of interaction to the emotional and psychological impact of the technology.
Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment
Furthermore, qualitative methods such as focus groups, structured interviews, and observational studies will complement quantitative assessments. By engaging with end-users such as patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, it will be possible to capture a holistic understanding of the systems’ usability in real-world conditions. Understanding user feedback from multiple perspectives ensures that the technology aligns with the practical needs of all stakeholders involved in dementia and frailty care.
Enhancing User Experience and System Functionality
The data collected through these methodologies will facilitate informed decision-making regarding system improvements and enhancements, ensuring that the COMFORTage suite of technologies remains user-friendly and effective. Each iteration of development will be informed by user input, making it possible to refine the user experience incrementally. This feedback loop ensures that issues such as accessibility barriers, cognitive overload, and technological issues are addressed progressively, ultimately leading to a more intuitive and effective product.
Social Impact of Assistive Technologies
Additionally, the social impact of these technologies must be assessed. Assistive technologies for dementia and frailty not only affect patients but also influence the daily commitments of caregivers and medical professionals. Equally, AI-powered Clinical Decision Support Systems (DSS) definitely impact the daily clinical workflow. Evaluating user acceptance should therefore include an examination of how these tools improve caregiver burden, enhance clinical workflow efficiency, and positively affect interactions between patients and caregivers. If these technologies can reduce caregiver stress while maintaining or improving patient well-being, their acceptance is likely to be much higher.
Broader Evaluation of Long-Term Implications
Beyond usability assessments, a broader evaluation of the long-term implications of these technologies on patient care and clinical decision-making should also be addressed. As part of the techno-economic validation, the cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and scalability of implementing COMFORTage solutions within healthcare systems should be analysed. Understanding the economic impact is crucial for ensuring widespread adoption and sustainability. If a technology is perceived as too costly or impractical within existing healthcare frameworks, its long-term reliability may be compromised. Therefore, evaluating cost-benefit trade-offs will play a significant role in the project’s success.
Evaluating user acceptance through a multifaceted approach will allow the COMFORTage partners to optimize technological adoption, enhance patient outcomes, and support healthcare professionals in delivering personalized and efficient care. The findings from these assessments will inform future iterations and deployments of the technology, ensuring that COMFORTage remains aligned with the evolving needs of ageing populations. Ultimately, the goal is to shape a future where aging is supported by advanced, user-centred solutions empowering individuals with dementia and frailty to maintain autonomy and quality of life for as long as possible and allowing clinicians to choose more personalised treatment pathways.
In conclusion, evaluating user experience and user acceptance is not just a procedural step within the COMFORTage project, it is a fundamental pillar of its success. Through rigorous usability testing, user experience analysis, qualitative interviews, techno-economic validation, and ethical considerations, it is possible to ensure that these technologies are both effective and widely adaptable. By prioritizing the needs and perspectives of end-users, COMFORTage aims to contribute to laying the foundation for a future where ageing populations benefit from innovative, user-friendly, and advanced technological solutions.
**Article written by Rebecca Iacopini, Marta Onniboni and Giovanna Giuffrè from Gemelli Digital Medicine & Health (GDMH), a key partner in the COMFORTage project.
