Designing tangibles to support emotion logging for older adults: development and usability study

Abstract

Abstract Background: The global population is ageing, leading to shifts in healthcare needs. In addition to developing technology to support physical health, there is an increasing recognition of the need to consider how technology can support emotional health. This raises the question of how to design devices that older adults can interact with to log their emotions. Objective: We designed and developed two novel tangible devices, inspired by existing paper-based scales of emotions. The findings from a field trial of these devices with older adults are reported. Methods: Using interviews, field deployment, and fixed logging tasks, the developed devices were assessed. Results: Our results demonstrate that the tangible devices provided data comparable with standardised psychological scales of emotion. The participants developed their own patterns of use around the devices, and their experience of using the devices uncovered a variety of design considerations. We discuss the difficulty of customising devices for specific user needs while logging data comparable to psychological scales of emotion. We also highlight the value of reflecting on sparse emotional data. Conclusions: Our work demonstrates the potential for tangible emotional logging devices. It also supports further research on whether such devices can support the emotional health of older adults through encouraging reflection of their emotional state.