Using videoed workshops in interdisciplinary research with people who have disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Internationally, interdisciplinary research is advocated in healthcare. Such research receives great respect, particularly from funding bodies, which expect innovations in healthcare to emerge from a whole team rather than a single discipline. However, little guidance exists about the process and structures for such research. AIM: To explore and explain the use of videoed workshops and mixed-media artefacts to collect data, and explore the benefits and challenges for interdisciplinary healthcare research. DATA: sources Videoed workshops were used to ascertain the preferences of eight people who have disabilities concerning assistive technology. These workshops are used to demonstrate the method's benefits and related challenges for interdisciplinary healthcare research. DISCUSSION: This method of collecting data has important potential benefits for healthcare research. Future research in healthcare must not only be interdisciplinary, it should also involve a range of research designs that are adaptive and responsive to service users' needs and use innovative methods of collecting data. CONCLUSION: The use of video and photography in interdisciplinary research for healthcare technology is an exciting possibility, but it poses ethical and practical considerations. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Videos and photography area a useful aid in interdisciplinary research and can be a valuable means of non-verbal data collection, especially with participants affected by disabilities, and can support research methods, such as the use of questionnaires.

Interdisciplinary doctorial supervision: lessons for nurse education and practice.

BACKGROUND: This paper concerns a reflection on one interdisciplinary doctorate supervision project. It outlines key elements for success within this supervisory context. AIM: The aim of this paper is to present a reflection on interdisciplinary doctorate supervision project experience and examine these experiences in light of literature on the topic. METHODS: Reflection was carried out using Rolfe et al. (2010) framework for reflexivity. FINDINGS: The supervised engineering project aimed to develop, demonstrate and evaluate a new framework for the design of customisable assistive technology (AT) which involved professionals working with AT and users with disabilities. As this research occurs in between disciplines, it required an innovative and interdisciplinary approach, with an ultimate merger between health sciences and design engineering disciplines and external liaison with adults with disabilities and a disability service provider. CONCLUSION: Interdisciplinary research is popular contemporarily and addresses societal needs. In the case outlined, clear understandings were developed, in addition to clear territorial boundaries that helped guide the novel research. Steps to success in interdisciplinary research supervision include selecting the appropriate interdisciplinary team; ensuring open communication; establishing and agreeing boundaries of the research and supervision; keeping an open mind; tolerance of lack of expertise in some areas; regular meetings and communication; keeping the student focused and agreeing publication plans in advance.

Crucial design issues for special access technology; a Delphi study.

PURPOSE: To develop and demonstrate a method to involve professional users of assistive technology (AT) in the development process of customisable products. Employing the ideas of user participation and mass customisation, this research addresses the need for reduced product costs and optimised product flexibility. METHOD: An adaptable six-question Delphi study was developed to establish consensus among AT professionals on design issues relating to a specified AT domain requiring innovation. The study is demonstrated for the special access technology (SAT) domain. A modified morphological matrix structures the application of the study results to the product design process. RESULTS: Fourteen professionals from the Republic of Ireland and the UK participated. Consensus was reached on prevalent parts of SAT that malfunction, primary reasons for SAT malfunction, characteristics of clients associated with SAT selection, client needs regarding SAT use and training, desirable traits of SAT and clinicians' frustrations with SAT. CONCLUSION: The study revealed a range of problems related to SAT, highlighting the complexities of successful SAT adoption. The questions led to differentiated insights and enabled design solution conceptualisation from various perspectives. The approach was found to help facilitate efficient generation and application of professional users' knowledge during the design process of customisable AT.