Identifying the Needs of Older Adults Associated with Daily Activities: A Qualitative Study.

INTRODUCTION: By 2050, older adults will constitute 16% of the world population; hence, there is an urgent demand and challenge to design solutions (products and services) that meet the needs of this age group. This study sought to analyse the needs that impact the well-being of Chilean older adults and present possible solutions through the design of products. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative study was used, where focus groups were held with older adults, industrial designers, health professionals, and entrepreneurs on the needs and design of solutions for older adults. RESULTS: A general map was obtained that linked the categories and subcategories related to the relevant needs and solutions, which were then classified in a framework. CONCLUSIONS: The resulting proposal places the needs in different fields of expertise; and thus, enables positioning, broadening, and expanding upon the map to share knowledge, between the user and key experts, to co-create solutions.

Well-being variations on students of health sciences related to their learning opportunities, resources, and daily activities in an online and on-crisis context: a survey-based study.

BACKGROUND: Universities' training process intensely relies on face-to-face education. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted it and forced them to reinvent their process online. But this crisis seems not to be the last we will face, and we take it as a lesson to prepare for future crises. These critical contexts are especially challenging because they imply changing teaching strategies, and students may not have the technology access or the living conditions to connect as they need. They also lived through a pandemic where the virus and the life changes added stress to their learning process and threatened their well-being. So, this study aims to analyze how well-being variations reported by Health sciences students relate to their learning opportunities, access conditions, and daily activities. METHOD: We surveyed 910 Health sciences students from six different Chilean universities at the end of the first semester of 2020, the first in pandemic conditions. Respondents answered online questionnaires about 1) Remote teaching activities, 2) Learning resources availability, 3) Daily life activities, and 4) Well-being changes. We performed descriptive analysis and Structural Equation Modelling. RESULTS: Live videoconference classes were the most frequent teaching activity; only a third of the students had quiet spaces to study online, and most had to housekeep daily. More than two third reported some well-being deterioration. The structural equation model showed a good fit. CONCLUSION: Results show an online learning scenario that tries to emulate traditional learning focusing on expositive strategies. Most students reported that their well-being deteriorated during the semester, but tutorials, workplace availability, and social support were protective factors.

Multidimensional scale of perceived social support: evidence of validity and reliability in a Chilean adaptation for older adults.

BACKGROUND: Given the relevance of social support on the mental health of older adults, having an instrument to evaluate this variable is essential for research in the area. However, mainly, having instruments with suitable evidence of their psychometric properties is critical. For this reason, this study sought to evaluate the factorial and reliability structure of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support within autonomous older adults from the Province of Concepción, Chile. METHODS: We surveyed 399 older adults using quote sampling. They answered a Spanish version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, plus a sociodemographic questionnaire. We performed confirmatory factor analysis using Weighted Least Squares Means and Variances adjusted estimation (WLSMV) to compare the factor models proposes by previous studies. To evaluate reliability, we calculated Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega. RESULTS: The Confirmatory factor analysis found that the 3-factors models showed the best fist index between the models with CFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.989, and SRMR = 0.035, even though RMSEA were over the cutoff point. The factors presented reliabilities from α = 0.858 to α = 0.941, and from ω = 0.937 to ω = 0.972. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the existence of three factors for the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), differentiating the support perceived from Family, Friends, and significant others. All factors present good or excellent reliability. This solution is theoretically consistent and coherent with the literature, and it presents evidence in favor of the use of MSPSS as a measurement to distinguish the support perceived source.

Design and health: An interdisciplinary baseline experience of product design for health needs of the Chilean elderly.

Objective: Describing the results of a User-Centered Design workshop using Challenge Based Learning or CBL, where students from Chilean industrial design and health degrees, developed solutions to resolve health problems among the elderly. METHODS: It was a pre-experimental study; 45 university students took part in a workshop: 39 from Industrial Design, 3 from Speech Therapy, 2 from Medical Technology and 1 from Medicine. In this workshop, the students, using CBL in disciplinary heterogeneous groups, faced a 3-week challenge to develop products to overcome a health problem for an elderly person. Once the product was presented, the professors and students assessed the conceptual proposals, using a semantic differential. The students also evaluated the workshop with a perception survey. RESULTS: Both the students and professors positively evaluated the usefulness and functionality of the conceptual proposals; although, the industrial design students were more critical about these aspects. The originality of proposals evaluated was the worst. Regarding the workshop, all students (100%) felt that instructions were clear as were the three moments of design, with problem definition stage best evaluated. Conclusion: The CBL is shown to be an educational tool that allows training professionals in product design and in developing health technology that is suitable for the users' needs. Regarding the process, heterogeneous make-up of the groups and clear external guide appear as essential for CBL to work well.

Experiencia interdisciplinaria para el diseño de productos para la salud / Interdisciplinary experience for the design of health care products

Background: Training of innovative health professionals is necessary for the development of an effective health system in a limited resources context. However, the professionals underestimate their innovative role and receive sparse training in this issue. Meanwhile, industrial designers are trained to innovate but have a weak knowledge about health issues. Aim: To describe the outcomes of a study based on Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) where health and industrial design students learned about product development aimed to solve health problems. Material and Methods: Twenty industrial design students, seven health care students and nine teachers of both disciplines participated in a User Centered Design workshop. Using the CBL method, they were challenged to develop products to tackle a health problem. At the end of the challenge, teachers and students evaluated the products using a semantic differential method and answered a questionnaire assessing the activity. Results: In the semantic differential method, all participants evaluated usefulness, functionality and organization of the product rather than its originality. The greatest discrepancies in evaluation were found between design and health teachers. Students positively evaluated the challenge, although the weakest point was its coordination. Conclusions: CBL and interdisciplinary work are adequate tools for the development of innovative competences, as well as understanding the central elements of innovation.