Engaging older people using participatory design

  • Authors:
  • Stephen Lindsay;Daniel Jackson;Guy Schofield;Patrick Olivier

  • Affiliations:
  • Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

The use of digital technologies is increasingly proposed in health and social care to address the aging population phenomenon but, in practice, the designers of these technologies are ill equipped to design for older people. We suggest participatory design as an approach to improving the quality of design for older people but, based on previous work and our own experiences, identify four central issues that participatory design approaches need to address. We describe an approach to early engagement in design with older people that address each of these issues and some of our experiences applying the approach in a variety of different design projects. We conclude by discussing some of the issues that have been highlighted when attempting apply this approach in different design contexts and the issues that have been raised when working with partners who are less committed to the idea of engaging with older adults in participatory design.