A Smart, Caring, Interactive Chair Designed for Improving Emotional Support and Parent-Child Interactions to Promote Sustainable Relationships Between Elderly and Other Family Members
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Parent-child Relationship between Generations
2.2. Intergenerational Emotional Connection and Family Interaction Device
2.3. Service Design
2.3.1. Service Design Process and Method
3. Research Methods
3.1. The Demand Exploration Stage
3.1.1. Observation and Semi-Structured Interviews
3.1.2. Persona
3.1.3. Contextual Inquiry
3.1.4. The Working Model
3.2. The Demand Definition Stage
3.3. The Design Execution Stage
3.4. The Product Verification Stage
3.4.1. Participants
3.4.2. The Intergenerational Relationship Scale Questionnaire
3.4.3. The Apparatus, Material, and Procedure
3.4.4. The Prototype
- (a)
- Sitting record: This functional test enabled users to quickly retrieve the sitting record of the App, and the form of data expression is easy to understand.
- (b)
- Weight recording: This functional test enables users to quickly access the weight records of the App, and the form of data expression is easy to understand.
- (c)
- Abnormal notification: This functional test aims to enable users to quickly determine abnormal times for receiving notifications from the App to trigger concern.
- (d)
- Seat settings: This functional test enables users to quickly complete the data settings of seats.
- (e)
- User and elderly settings: This functional test is designed to enable users to quickly complete the data settings of the elderly.
3.4.5. Usability Questionnaire
4. Results
4.1. The Results of Demand Exploration
4.1.1. Analysis of Lifestyle and Behavior of the Elderly
4.1.2. Persona
4.1.3. Focus Person Contextual Interview
4.1.4. Working Model
Interactive Model
Object Model
Physical Environment Model
4.2. The Results of Demand Definition
4.2.1. Potential Demands between the Elderly and other Family Members
- (1)
- The improvement in intergenerational relationships requires the active care of children. As identified from interviews and interaction modules, even children living with their parents do not know how to express their concerns, and repeating the same dialogue does not solve the physical and mental problems of the elderly. After the adult children have their own family, their relationship with their parents changes from caretaker to caregiver. Because there is still room for interaction between the two groups, the children’s attitude toward their parents shifts to active care for retired parents, and the intergenerational relationships are not well established.
- (2)
- The improvement in intergenerational relationships requires caring for the elderly’s daily activity routines. In the interviews, retired parents complained that children care and interact with careless attitudes, and the same interactive discourse is repeated. The elderly are happy to take care of their children, but they simultaneously require children to understand them in order to have good quality interactions. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a product that is useful for the elderly that is able to record the elderly’s basic physiological information and daily routines, and lets the elderly communicate with their children at any time, even when the children live in a different city.
- (3)
- A chair placed in the living room could be designed to enable understanding and record parents’ life practices. Retired people or the elderly spend four to six hours in the living room early in the evening, whereas the bedroom is where they spend the longest amount of time each day. The living room is the area where they spend most of their time interacting with their children. According to the observations, the elderly have a habit of using the same chair in the living room every day, and family members respect each other when they use the chair. Therefore, a chair could be designed to record daily routines. Physiological information, such as weight, heartbeat, and blood pressure of the elderly, could be transmitted to the children through the IoT. Even if they live in different cities, they can monitor and care about their parents’ daily routines.
- (4)
- To analyze parental lifestyle data, a smartphone application program could be designed to check daily routines and physiological information, such as weight, heart rate, and blood pressure, collected through the chair. The data could be recorded on a cloud database system, and if users’ physiological data show unusual conditions, such as a change in weight of 5% within a week, unusual timing of using the chair, and abnormal heartbeats, this could be reported to the children. By providing parental information to children as basic data for interacting with parents, their concern would not only be limited to superficial greetings, but also to the understanding of their daily routines of interest and interactions to promote intergenerational caring interactions.
4.2.2. Product Design Requirements for the Smart Caring System
4.3. The Results of Design Execution
4.3.1. The Prototype Design of a Smart Care Interactive System with a Chair for the Elderly
- (1)
- Smart sensing interactive system: Integrates a chair, smart sensors, Internet of Things features, wireless transmission of daily activities of a user, and their physiological conditions to a cloud server.
- (2)
- Signal analysis system: Storage and analysis of the data of daily activities and physiological conditions of a user, e.g., weight, heartbeat rate, and blood pressure. These data can be viewed on a smartphone so that family members can understand the physical conditions of an elderly member.
- (3)
- Abnormal notification system: By analyzing and comparing the currently sensed data to the stored data of healthy conditions, the system can diagnose ill conditions or emergency conditions of an elderly member. In such cases, the system will alert the caring family members to take appropriate actions.
- (4)
- The smartphone App software can visualize and enable interaction with the daily activity and physiological data to reflect the condition of an elderly person and actively notify the caring family members of the current conditions of the elderly person.
4.3.2. Chair Hardware Design
4.3.3. Smartphone App Design
4.3.4. App Functional Design
4.3.5. App Interface Design
- Seat setting pairing: Seat settings are entered by the user and named. By matching the corresponding data storage space with serial numbers, the first login and the database are matched (Figure A2).
- User settings: The children input their own basic data and help to input the data of the elderly. The user data settings include the name, email, telephone, and sex. The data settings of the elderly include personal photos, sex, name, height, weight, active and rest time, and so on (Figure A3 and Figure A4).
- Sitting information record: In this interface, weekly, monthly, and yearly data about active and resting times are recorded. This interface structure is divided into three parts. The first part is the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly data display selection; the second part is the date selection; and the third part is the sitting and resting data display. The following text describes the interface design for the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly data display (Figure A5).
- (a)
- Sitting information record—days: The user’s sitting time is used as the data record. This page uses a direct timeline to record data, so the user obviously and instantly can see the sitting and rest conditions. Points and pages are followed by a data representation of the day’s active and rest states.
- (b)
- Record of rest—week, month: All weekly, monthly, and yearly information is recorded. The data record mode is presented in a graph. In the lower selection area, the user can jump directly to a day or week and view the daily or weekly record. As such, they can clearly see the time when the elderly person in the family sits on the chair every day, and the data can be used to observe whether the elderly’s living habits have changed.
- (c)
- Active and rest record—year: Records all yearly rest information. The record mode of this page is presented in a bar chart. In the lower selection area, you can jump directly to the month to view the current month’s record.
- Weight record: The interface is roughly the same as the seat record. The weight record is divided into four parts: day, week, month, and year. The interface structure is divided into three main parts. The first part is the data display selection for the day, week, month, and year; the second part is the date selection; and the third part is the weight data display (Figure A6).
- Abnormal notification: After the establishment of basic data, the program determines whether the recorded data are in line with the user’s daily life and rest intervals. If the sensor is triggered during the normal working hours, it shows abnormal actions through vibration and sound effects to remind children to take the initiative to monitor the life status of an elderly person. Notice information appears in the emergency notification window, and other abnormal status information is logged in tabular form after clicking on the notification (Figure A7).
4.4. The Results of Product Verification
4.4.1. The Results of Intergenerational Relations Scale
4.4.2. Results of the Usability Questionnaire
5. Discussion
5.1. Potential Demands for Elderly and Family Member Interactions
5.2. Improvement in Intergenerational Relationships
5.3. Improving Intergenerational Relations for Sustainable Development of Family and Society
5.4. Limitations of Research
6. Conclusions
6.1. Applying Services Design for the Developing the Smart Care Interactive Chair
6.2. Potential Demands
- (1)
- Children’s active care can improve intergenerational relationships. Therefore, the adult children’s mentality toward their parents should change from passive to active care for retired parents, so that good intergenerational relationships and interactions are created and maintained.
- (2)
- An accurate understanding of parents’ daily activities can effectively improve the emotional interactions between generations; even if parents and children are separated from each other, there will be no communication gap.
- (3)
- The design of the seat in the living room can be used to understand and record the daily lives of the parents, and care can be based on the information collected.
- (4)
- A large data analysis was used to collect information about parents’ daily lives and physical activities at home. Through the smart action device software, adult children can be provided with the basic data for interactions with older parents. Their concern is not only superficial greetings but also a precise grasp of the care interaction of their information to promote emotional interactions between generations.
6.3. Design Solutions
6.4. Validating the Design Solutions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
App Uses Interface Programming: | Cloud-based database—user weight and active and rest data | Android connection interface program | Arduino weight sensing device | |
Environment | Android Studio | phpMyAdmin, XAMPP | Android Studio | Arduino IDE |
Language | Java (Android) | php, MySQL | Java (Android) | Java (Arduino) |
Functions |
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Group | Sex | Age | Category | Labeling |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Male | 68 | Elderly | E1 |
Male | 36 | Children | C1 | |
2 | Female | 81 | Elderly | E2 |
Male | 55 | Children | C2 | |
3 | Female | 71 | Elderly | E3 |
Female | 46 | Children | C3 |
Place | Behavior/Event | Object | State | Relationship | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Living Room | Watching TV | Remote control, TV, chair, monitor, book, table and chair, storage cabinet, monitor | Spend time, care about current events, self-study | Family, spouse, friend | Morning, afternoon, evening |
Family Interactions | Cell phone, phone, chair, monitor | Caring for children, children caring for parents, boring and find people to chat with, having something to ask for help with | Family, spouse, friend | Morning, afternoon, evening | |
Kitchen | Cooking | Kitchenware, tableware, dining table, chair | Cooking three meals, boiling water, and processing the purchased ingredients | Family, spouse | Morning, afternoon, evening |
Dining | Tableware, dining table, chair | Eat, communicate with friends or children | Family, spouse, friend | Morning, afternoon, evening | |
Courtyard | Organize Flower, Rest | Gardening equipment, monitor chair | Get up early, tend to the flower gardens, arrange the flowers in the afternoon, water the flowers, pull the vegetables, plant new plants, occasionally sit in the sun, socialize with friends and neighbors | Family, spouse, friend | Morning, evening |
Room | Sleeping | Bed, bedding | Most of the elderly go to bed at 9:00–11:00 p.m., and their wake-up time is 5:00–7:00 a.m. | Spouse | Morning, at night |
Bathroom | Toiletries, Toilet Sinks, Toilets | Toiletry, toilet sink | Morning, wash at night before going to bed, bathing | Spouse | Morning, at night |
Living Together | Stay Together, but Children Have Their Own Life | ||
AFemale | BMale | CFemale | DFemale |
Age: 81 Sex: Female Living status: living together Health status: chronic disease Economic status: good | Age: 60 Sex: Male Living status: living together Economic status: good | Age: 67 Sex: Female Living status: living together Health status: no chronic diseases Economic status: middle class | Age: 32 Sex: Female Living status: living together Economic status: middle class |
Like lively family, expecting children and grandchildren to come back. Minor dementia, but can basically cook by herself. There is a monitor in the home, but she did not feel like being watched. | Because her mother is not well, after retirement, he returned to her hometown to take care of her mother. He often uses smart electronic products, and often cares about the state of her mother in terms of high technology acceptance. | Normal lifestyle, joined the dancing community, lives with children, communication with children is not smooth, but feels that her children still practice filial piety, responsible for cooking dinner. | Stable work, single, living at home. Dinner with parents and they interact with each other, and then do their own thing, does not like her parents to manage everything, understands her parents’ lifestyle. |
Living Separately | Living Separately at the Same Community | ||
EMale | FMale | GMale | HFemale |
Age: 71 Sex: Male Living status: living alone Health status: chronic disease Economic status: good | Age: 35 Sex: Male Living status: outside Economic status: middle class | Age: 66 Sex: Male Living status: living together Health status: no chronic diseases Economic status: good | Age: 55 Sex: Female Living status: living near parents Economic status: good |
Normal life and work, occasionally goes to the park to exercise or chats with neighbors, likes to live apart from his children, feels that meeting every day would be annoying, approachable. | Stable office worker, spends less time with his parents but wants to care more about his parents. His work is stable and he needs to take care of family and work, but wants to learn more about his parents’ lifestyle. Usually contact is by telephone, sometimes he says too much and feels that parents are tired. | Everyday routine is fixed. Good financial situation, participates in community activities. Learns new knowledge, interacts with children at dinner time, often does not know what the children are doing. | Successful career, busy work, back to see her parents on holidays. Spends holidays with parents, lives in the same community as parents. There is a surveillance care system in the home. Wants to know more about her parents’ lifestyle. Hopes that technology can help solve the problem. |
Issue | Description | Overview |
---|---|---|
Communication problem |
|
|
Physical deterioration | Degeneration of body function leads to knee deterioration, vision also deteriorates with age, and memory degradation is an important issue. | |
Increased dependency on familiar transactions |
| Exclusive elderly items and comfortable space design. |
Thought problem |
| Understand each other’s lives and work and communicate smoothly. |
Expecting interaction |
| Always understand each other’s lives and work and let the communication flow smoothly. |
Interaction time difference |
| Lifestyles are different, but this allows them to interact and move instantly. |
Way of caring |
| Monitoring and interaction should be more friendly and user-friendly without disruption. |
LINE: An integrated platform of instant messaging software developed by LINE Company of Naver Group. | ||
FB: Facebook (FB) is a social network service and social media website that originated in the United States. |
Design Target | Feature | Demand | Observation | |
---|---|---|---|---|
User | Elderly | A comfortable and user-friendly chair space | Comfortable, sitting and lying down | Parents sit on chairs for long periods of time and need a comfortable chair |
Lighting facilities | Sitting in a chair reading a newspaper, but the light does not seem enough, turning on a big light wastes electricity | |||
Simple storage space | Often put things near the chair, it is chaotic and there is no place to put things, and sometimes they cannot find things. | |||
Children | Understand parents’ lifestyles at home, and can effectively interact with parents | Transfer parental usage records and analyze usage status via a cellphone app, as the basis for caring and interactions | Always understand each other’s lives and work, make communication smooth. | |
The chair is equipped with sensors to detect and record parents’ activities | ||||
Property Design | Sofa chair | A comfortable chair for personal use by a private person | Comfortable chair | Parents sit on chairs for long periods of time and need a comfortable chair |
Will not cause backache | ||||
Good place for sitting | Fear the chair will be too soft, making it difficult to rise because their arms are weak | |||
Simple admission of personal newspapers | I read books and newspapers in my chair, storage for glasses and pens | |||
With lighting equipment | Read books and newspapers in chair | |||
Sensor device design | Use pressure sensor to record time | Make children aware of their parents’ lifestyles | ||
Use pressure sensor to detect user’s weight | Children need accurate understanding of their health | |||
Use pulse sensor to record heartbeat and blood pressure | ||||
Parent-child interaction App | User interface design | Time of chair use | Children can use this information to interact with their parents and care about their health | |
Change in body weight | ||||
Heart beat and blood pressure information | ||||
Unusual use of chair time is presented | ||||
Unusual change in body weight | ||||
Unusual physiological information presented | ||||
Emergency notification | Children need immediate notification if parental condition gets unusual | |||
Cloud Server | Record, analyze, and send events to smart devices | Record, analyze, transmit usage time, weight changes, physiological information |
Function | Description |
---|---|
Seat pairing | Name the chair and code it, and pair the chair with the database. |
Personal information | Enter the pre-recorded information about an elderly person, including their personal information, photo, name, height, weight, and schedule. |
Usage record | Using the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly recordings, the children can watch the life of an elderly person and take time to understand their behavior and condition. |
Weight record | From the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly records, the children can monitor the behavior of an elderly person, and the weight data will be used to understand the life and condition of the elderly person. |
Abnormal usage notification | When the elderly person’s schedule is different from usual or their weight changes, the system considers this abnormal, and, in a short period of time, the child will be notified through the mobile phone, and the child can immediately respond. |
Emotional Support | Pre-Test | Post-Test | Std. Deviation | t | Sig. (Two-Tailed) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | Mean | ||||
1. When I am in a bad mood, I take the initiative to talk to my children. | 1.67 | 3.67 | 1.00 | 3.4 | 0.070 |
2. I take the initiative to talk with my children about my thoughts. | 1.3 | 3 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
3. When I am in a bad mood, my children take the initiative to comfort me. | 2.3 | 4 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
4. When children are under pressure in life, they tell me first. | 1.3 | 3 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
5. My children greet me. | 2.67 | 4.3 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
6. I often think of my children. | 3 | 4.3 | 0.58 | 4.0 | 0.050 |
7. When I am not feeling well, I initiatively tell my children. | 2.3 | 3.3 | 0 | - | - |
8. My children take the initiative to ask about my physical condition. | 1.67 | 3.67 | 1.00 | 3.4 | 0.070 |
Sub-Total | 2.03 | 3.66 | 1.01 | 13.7 | 0.00 |
Parent-child Interactions | |||||
9. My children share the joys of life with me. | 1.67 | 3 | 0.58 | 4.0 | 0.050 |
10. My children listen to my complaints. | 1.67 | 3.67 | 1.00 | 3.4 | 0.070 |
11. My children help me to measure by blood pressure, blood sugar and so on. | 1 | 1.3 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
12. Children often take the initiative to greet. | 1.3 | 3.3 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
13. I often take the initiative to contact my children | 1.67 | 3.3 | 0.58 | 5.0 | 0.038 |
14. I take the initiative to care for the health of my children | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - |
Sub-Total | 1.55 | 2.93 | 0.94 | 5.14 | 0.00 |
TOTAL | 1.82 | 3.34 | 1.05 | 11.5 | 0.00 |
Furniture Revision Suggestions | ||
Category | Component | Opinions |
Functions | Seat | Add storage function under the seat Adjustable cushion |
Back of the Chair | The back of the chair needs to be longer Increase the adjustability Headrest needs to be expanded A waist section is required | |
Foot rest | It can be lightweight or integrated into the chair body | |
Interactive Suggestions | ||
Category | Component | Opinions |
Seat | Emergency rescue | Add SOS button that dials 110 (the emergency number of Taiwan) |
Health status | Add relevant medical detection to let the family know the user’s status | |
App | Health status | Add related medical detection to let the family know the user’s status |
Multi-connection | Let family members have room for communication |
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Share and Cite
Tseng, W.S.-W.; Hsu, C.-W. A Smart, Caring, Interactive Chair Designed for Improving Emotional Support and Parent-Child Interactions to Promote Sustainable Relationships Between Elderly and Other Family Members. Sustainability 2019, 11, 961. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11040961
Tseng WS-W, Hsu C-W. A Smart, Caring, Interactive Chair Designed for Improving Emotional Support and Parent-Child Interactions to Promote Sustainable Relationships Between Elderly and Other Family Members. Sustainability. 2019; 11(4):961. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11040961
Chicago/Turabian StyleTseng, Winger Sei-Wo, and Chih-Wei Hsu. 2019. "A Smart, Caring, Interactive Chair Designed for Improving Emotional Support and Parent-Child Interactions to Promote Sustainable Relationships Between Elderly and Other Family Members" Sustainability 11, no. 4: 961. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11040961