Development of an Assistive Technology for Cognition to Support Meal Preparation in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: User-Centered Design Study

Stéphanie Pinard; Carolina Bottari; Catherine Laliberté; Hélène Pigot; Marisnel Olivares; Mélanie Couture; Aline Aboujaoudé; Sylvain Giroux; Nathalie Bier

doi:10.2196/34821

Development of an Assistive Technology for Cognition to Support Meal Preparation in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: User-Centered Design Study

JMIR Hum Factors. 2022 Aug 4;9(3):e34821. doi: 10.2196/34821.

Authors

Stéphanie Pinard^{1

2}, Carolina Bottari^{1

3}, Catherine Laliberté⁴, Hélène Pigot^{4

5}, Marisnel Olivares⁴, Mélanie Couture^{6

7}, Aline Aboujaoudé^{1

8}, Sylvain Giroux^{4

5}, Nathalie Bier^{1

8}

Affiliations

¹ École de réadaptation, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
² Centre de réadaptation Estrie, CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
³ Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal Métropolitain, Institut universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience physique de Montréal, CIUSSS Centre-Sud-de-l'Île de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁴ DOMUS Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
⁵ Centre de recherche sur le vieillissement, CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
⁶ Centre for Research and Expertise in Social Gerontology, CIUSSS West-Central-of-Montreal, Côte Saint-Luc, QC, Canada.
⁷ Department of Psychology, Université de Sherbooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
⁸ Research Center, Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, CIUSSS Centre-Sud-de-l'Île de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.

PMID: 35925663
PMCID: PMC9389386
DOI: 10.2196/34821

Abstract

Background: Although assistive technology for cognition (ATC) has enormous potential to help individuals who have sustained a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) prepare meals safely, no ATC has yet been developed to assist in this activity for this specific population.

Objective: This study aims to conduct a needs analysis as a first step in the design of an ATC to support safe and independent meal preparation for persons with severe TBI. This included identifying cooking-related risks to depict future users' profiles and establishing the clinical requirements of the ATC.

Methods: In a user-centered design study, the needs of 3 future users were evaluated in their real-world environments (supported-living residence) using an ecological assessment of everyday activities, a review of their medical files, a complete neuropsychological test battery, individual interviews, observational field notes, and log journals with the residents, their families, and other stakeholders from the residence (eg, staff and health professionals). The needs analysis was guided by the Disability Creation Process framework.

Results: The results showed that many issues had to be considered for the development of the ATC for the 3 residents and other eventual users, including cognitive issues such as distractibility and difficulty remembering information over a short period of time and important safety issues, such as potential food poisoning and risk of fire. This led to the identification of 2 main clinical requirements for the ATC: providing cognitive support based on evidence-based cognitive rehabilitation to facilitate meal preparation and ensuring safety at each step of the meal preparation task.

Conclusions: This needs analysis identified the main requirements for an ATC designed to support meal preparation for persons with severe TBI. Future research will focus on implementing the ATC in the residence and evaluating its usability.

Keywords: activities of daily living; assistive technology; brain injury; cognitive rehabilitation; meal preparation; mobile phone; needs assessment; user-centered design.

©Stéphanie Pinard, Carolina Bottari, Catherine Laliberté, Hélène Pigot, Marisnel Olivares, Mélanie Couture, Aline Aboujaoudé, Sylvain Giroux, Nathalie Bier. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (https://humanfactors.jmir.org), 04.08.2022.