Design for Pride

Study on elicitation of pride in human-product interaction for people with dementia.

Information

Author: Owusu, I.A.
Contributor: Desmet, P.M.A., Anderiesen, H., Moshagen, M., Sorokin, L.
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Department: Industrial Design
Programme: Master of Science Design for Interaction
Type: Master thesis
Date: 17-12-2012
Keywords: Design for emotion | Elderly | Dementia | Emotion elicitation | Human-product interaction

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Abstract

To date, there are only few scientifically comprehensive studies that investigate the conceptual description of emotion elicitation processes by design with actually applying them. The present interdisciplinary thesis project aimed at applying a design process resulting in an interactive prototype that provides empirical evidence for targeted emotional aspects in the user experience. With the design, people with dementia were addressed, a specific user group of relevance to society. One in three people over 65 will develop dementia, a set of symptoms that includes loss of memory, mood changes, and problems with communication and reasoning. Alleviating those symptoms is crucial not only to the patients, but also to all their formal and informal caretakers. However, instead of taking a problem focused attitude of decreasing the negative emotions of patients, enabling the experience of positive emotions in everyday life is an approach which has shown to have meaningful consequences for wellbeing.

Exceeding the general spectrum of positive versus negative emotions, this thesis broaches the issue of pride, a distinct complex emotion related to achievements. Applied to people with dementia, pride may not only have positive effects in a momentary human product interaction but could also improve their wellbeing and even mental state in the long term.
Literature gives only little information about the emotion of pride. To learn more about manifestations of pride in daily life, qualitative interviews were conducted in a first preliminary study. Due to the limitations in abstract thinking of people with dementia, 11 young healthy people were first sensitized with workbooks and then interviewed. An ideation workshop with designers followed and resulted in the conclusion that it was still very difficult to generate satisfiable pride-eliciting product concepts.

Therefore, “pride opportunities” taking the time aspect of user experiences into account, were defined, based on the data from the first preliminary study. How generalisable these found pride opportunities were for the target group of the later design was investigated through a second preliminary study, involving the target users. A combination of interviews and observations over six weeks of 11 people with dementia, interviews with family members and care professionals as well as with scientific experts on dementia, resulted in identifying three pride opportunities especially relevant for the target user group. The pride opportunities were practically applied in a design process focussing on the elicitation of pride for people with dementia. After developing a design goal and principles, a design vision was formulated. Based on this vision, design concepts were generated of which one turned out to be the strongest due to its tight relation to the research findings and its applicability in the chosen context, daycare centres for elderly people. A prototyping phase with iterative testing with people with dementia followed, until a final working interactive prototype was built. In order to empirically test how a human product interaction incorporates the attributes that evoke pride in the target user group, an evaluation study was conducted with 20 participants in the Netherlands and in Germany. Two kinds of data sources assessed the emotion-expressions for pride, joy, sadness and embarrassment of the participants. Two trained raters used a standardized emotion measure while reviewing video material and care professionals present took notes during and were interviewed after the interaction itself.
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The evaluation proved the design process to be successful in eliciting an emotional user experience, as not only significantly pride, but even stronger joy was measured in the participants. The “how” of emotion elicitation was answered by the research and design process of this thesis. Limitations are discussed and recommendations for further development of the resulting interactive prototype “Recordis” are made. Finally, guidelines for designers are formulated who intend to design for distinct emotions for special user groups.