Jun HU :: HU, Jun

[M22 project by João Paulo Lammoglia]

The project revolves around the Freezing of Gait (FOG) phenomenon occurring among elderly patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). FOG is the temporary, involuntary inability to move and it can be experienced on turning, in narrow spaces, whilst reaching a destination, and in stressful situations. FOG is one of the most disabling and common mobility disorder in PD, and is usually observed in the advanced stages of the disease (Nieuwboer, 2013). Gait impairment and FOG seriously affect the quality of life of patients as it can lead to an unpredictable loss of control over movement and can result into falls.

The effectiveness of the Sensory cueing in improving gait in PD patients has been established by different researchers (Bagley, 1991) (Freedland, 2002). Sensory cueing can be defined as the use of external temporal or spatial stimuli to facilitate movement, gait initiation and continuation (Nieuwboer, 2007). It can be divided into three modalities: visual cueing; auditory cueing; and tactile cueing. Visual cues help to enlarge the stride length and generate sufficient amplitude movement (Azulay, 1999), while auditory cues help to stabilize the gait timing (Freedland, 2002).

The goal for this project is to combine the established scientific knowledge on FOG and Sensory cueing with an in-depth User Research into the design of an intelligent product/service for the assistance of a more independent lifestyle for PD patients with FOG symptoms.

In this document it is described my design vision and connected to it motivation for my Final Master Project. After, information about the context and project can be found. It is illustrated the project development, design approach, outcomes and future steps.

Project by Myrte Thoolen and Bram de Vogel

This report details the combined work of Bram de Vogel (B3.2 Final Bachelor) and Myrte Thoolen (Pre-Master) in semester 1 2015-2016. We developed the “Eve” Sleep Diary concept within the context of the project Tools for Medical Professionals and the project track Sleep in particular. The design challenge in the project was to develop a new sleep diary for use in the treatment of patients with insomnia. For our final concept, we designed “Eve,” a hybrid physical-digital sleep diary. Eve aims to improve the sleep logging experience for insomnia patients and to provide medical specialists with more quality and
quantity of patient sleep data, significantly benefitting the treatment.
Within this report, you may find an extensive description of the “Eve” Sleep Diary, description and analysis of the original problem, the design process as well as future development (recommendations). We have also added individual reflections regarding the project and our individual growth as designers.

FMP by JOÃO PAULO LAMMOGLIA

The project revolves around the Freezing of Gait (FOG) phenomenon occurring among elderly patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). FOG is the temporary, involuntary inability to move and it can be experienced on turning, in narrow spaces, whilst reaching a destination, and in stressful situations. FOG is one of the most disabling and common mobility disorder in PD, and is usually observed in the advanced stages of the disease (Nieuwboer, 2013). Gait impairment and FOG seriously affect the quality of life of patients as it can lead to an unpredictable loss of control over movement and can result into falls.

… The goal for this project is to combine the established scientific knowledge on FOG and Sensory cueing with an in-depth User Research into the design of an intelligent product/service that can assist a more independent lifestyle for PD patients with FOG symptoms.

by Carlijn Valk. M12 project.

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Elderly people with dementia often suffer from negative feelings such as loneliness and anxiousness due to increased social isolation, and confusion. Design affords us the opportunity to create supportive environments that engage the elderly with dementia in such a way that they are stimulated in a positive way. From my investigations, it is clear that nature and animals have a positive effect on the emotions of residents living in care homes. However, it impossible for care providers to facilitate interactions with animals or nature. To answer this need I wanted to design an immersive experience that suggest a connection to nature for those in the care home that do not have the ability to be in nature due to limited supervision from care takers, limited outside space in urban located homes or mobility challenges.

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