Unai Díaz
ABSTRACT
The User Centered Design allows the technical developers to know specific characteristics about the potential end users. In the specific case of elderly users, consideration of their needs in areas like communication, family and social relationships, social support and leisure, is a key point, which should guide the development of technological applications. In an attempt to fulfill to some extent this range of needs, the VITAL project, which is a European Community 6th Framework Program financed project, has developed a set of technologies, platforms and applications with the aim to provide remote assistance to elderly users and increase their quality of life The sample recruited for the last evaluation of VITAL in Spain was composed of 83 participants, 19 male and 64 female, with an age ranging from 52 to 91 (x=73,68, sd=7,86). All targeted users were attending elder associations in their respective cities, which implies an existing minimum social interaction for all for them. This paper gathers the literature about elderly needs in the areas of communication with family, social relationships and leisure, and examines what elderly users think about how VITAL Platform can help them in improving their quality of life in those addressed areas.
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Index Terms
- A TV platform to improve older people's quality of life: lessons learned from the evaluation of the VITAL project with Spanish elderly users
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