Social needs are important basic human needs; when not satisfied, loneliness and social isolation can occur and subsequently sickness or even premature death. For older people social needs can be more difficult to satisfy because of the loss of resources such as health and mobility. Interventions for older people to satisfy social needs are often not evaluated and when evaluated are not proven successful. Technological interventions can be successful, but the relationship between technology and social wellbeing is complex and more research in this area is needed. The aim of this research is to uncover design opportunities for technological interventions to fulfil social needs of older people. Context-mapping sessions are a way to gain more insight into the social needs of older people and to involve them in the design of interventions to fulfil social needs. Participants of the context-mapping sessions were older people and social workers working with older people. Four sessions with a total of 20 participants were held to generate ideas for interventions to satisfy social needs. The results are transcripts from the discussion parts of the context-mapping sessions and collages the participants created. The transcripts were independently analysed and inductive codes were attached to quotations in the transcripts that are relevant to the research question and subsequently thematic analysis took place. Collages made by the participants were independently analysed by the researchers and after discussion consensus was reached about important themes. The following three main themes emerged: ‘connectedness’, ‘independence’ and ‘meaningfulness’. Technology was not identified as a separate theme, but was addressed in relation to the above mentioned themes. Staying active in a meaningful way, for example by engaging in volunteer work, may fulfil the three needs of being connected, independent and meaningful. In addition, interventions can also focus on the need to be and remain independent and to deal with becoming more dependent. The older people in our study have an ambivalent attitude towards technology, which needs to be taken into account when designing an intervention. We conclude this paper by making recommendations for possible technological interventions to fulfil social needs.
Loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognized as important challenges of our times. Inspired by research hinting at beneficial effects of interacting with nature on social connectedness and opportunities provided by ambient technology to simulate nature in a rich and engaging manner, this study explored to what extent digital nature projections can stimulate social aspirations and related emotions. To this end, participants (N = 96) were asked to watch, individually or in pairs, digital nature projections consisting of animated scenes which were either dense or spacious and depicting either wild or tended nature. Subsequently, they filled out a questionnaire comprising measures for social aspirations, awe and fascination. Results show that spacious scenes elicited significantly higher social aspiration and awe scores, especially when watching alone. Design implications are discussed for making digital nature accessible for people with limited access to real nature.
By having a healthy and happy social life, social needs are fulfilled. When social needs are not fulfilled, loneliness and social isolation can occur, which have negative consequences for one’s physical and mental health. Social technology, technology that enables social interaction, can be a resource to fulfil the social needs of older people. In this study, we aimed to learn what role social technology plays in the social life of older people. We held 15 interviews with people aged over 70 who regularly use some form of social technology. Our results indicate that social technology plays different roles in the lives of older people. It strengthens the existing social relationships and social structures. It also brings depth and fun to the social contacts of older people and in this way, enriches their social lives. Social technology also gives a sense of safety and peace of mind to the older people themselves but also to their network members. However, there are barriers in the use of social technology. The older people struggled with using social technology and feel that social technology sometimes stands in the way of real human contact. In supporting and facilitating people’s relationship with others, a community and society, technology helps fulfil older people’s need for connectedness, meaningfulness and independence. However, the relationship with independence is ambiguous. Their life experience gives older people a thoughtful way of looking at social technology and the role it plays in their lives
Digital innovations in the field of immersive Augmented Reality (AR) can be a solution to offer adults who are mentally, physically or financially unable to attend sporting events such as premier league football a stadium and match experience. This allows them to continue to connect with their social networks. In the intended project, AR content will be further developed with the aim of evoking the stadium experience of home matches as much as possible. The extent to which AR enriches the experience is then tested in an experiment, in which the experience of a football match with and without AR enrichment is measured in a stadium setting and in a home setting. The experience is measured with physiological signals. In addition, a subjective experience measure is also being developed and benchmarked (the experience impact score). Societal issueInclusion and health: The joint experience of (top) sports competitions forms a platform for vulnerable adults, with a limited social capital, to build up and maintain the social networks that are so necessary for them. AR to fight against social isolation and loneliness.
Psychosocial problems related to social isolation are a growing issue for wellbeing and health and have become a significant societal problem. This is especially relevant for children and adults with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and those spending extended periods in hospitals or permanently living in assisted living facilities. A lack of social relationships, social connectivity, and the inability to travel freely leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Loneliness interventions often use mediated environments to improve the feeling of connectedness. It has been proven that the utilization of haptic technologies enhances realism and the sense of presence in both virtual environments and telepresence in physical places by allowing the user to experience interaction through the sense of touch. However, the technology application is mostly limited to the experiences of serious games in professional environments and for-entertainment-gaming. This project aims to explore how haptic technologies can support the storytelling of semi-scripted experiences in VR to improve participants’ sense of presence and, therefore, the feeling of connectedness. By designing and prototyping the experience, the project aims to obtain insights and offer a better understanding of designing haptic-technology-supported storytelling and its potential to improve connectedness and become a useful tool in isolation interventions. The project will be conducted through the process of participants’ co-creation.
The COVID19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability in supply chain networks in the healthcare sector and the tremendous waste problem of disposable healthcare products, such as isolation gowns. Single-use disposable isolation gowns cause great ecological impact. Reusable gowns can potentially reduce climate impacts and improve the resilience of healthcare systems by ensuring a steady supply in times of high demand. However, scaling reusable, circular isolation gowns in healthcare organizations is not straightforward. It is impeded by economic barriers – such as servicing costs for each use – and logistic and hygiene barriers, as processes for transport, storage and safety need to be (re)designed. Healthcare professionals (e.g. purchasing managers) lack complete information about social, economic and ecological costs, the true cost of products, to make informed circular purchasing decisions. Additionally, the residual value of materials recovered from circular products is overlooked and should be factored into purchasing decisions. To facilitate the transition to circular procurement in healthcare, purchasing managers need more fine-grained, dynamic information on true costs. Our RAAK Publiek proposal (MODLI) addresses a problem that purchasing managers face – making purchasing decisions that factor in social, economic and ecological costs and future benefits from recovered materials. Building on an existing consortium that developed a reusable and recyclable isolation gown, we design and develop an open-source decision-support tool to inform circular procurement in healthcare organizations and simulate various purchasing options of non-circular and circular products, including products from circular cascades. Circular procurement is considered a key driver in the transition to a circular economy as it contributes to closing energy and material loops and minimizes negative impacts and waste throughout entire product lifecycles. MODLI aims to support circular procurement policies in healthcare organizations by providing dynamic information for circular procurement decision making.
