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Food for Thought - Using speculative design to facilitate discussion on health and wellbeing of older adults at the height of demographic aging

Kamp, Nathalie (2022) Food for Thought - Using speculative design to facilitate discussion on health and wellbeing of older adults at the height of demographic aging.

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Abstract:This study aims to investigate how we can open a debate on desirable futures for technology-supported healthy aging. The approach chosen is speculative design, a practice that uses emerging technologies to reflect on the impact of emerging technologies. To investigate how speculative design can support the development of novel health technologies aiming at prevention, a case study on the topic of malnutrition in older adults is performed. Older adults' motivations and struggles with eating healthy were explored and used to develop “Food for Thought”. Set in the year 2037, in which a big part of personal care is replaced by digital health interventions, “Food for Thought” denies its user access to all communication with their loved ones as long as they have not consumed a nutritious meal. The prototype was evaluated through interviews with an expert, two older adults (70+) and two roundtable discussions. I conclude that speculative design offers great potential to support the development of novel technologies addressing the increased pressure on the healthcare sector caused by demographic aging. Through facilitating debate on desirable and undesirable futures for technology-supported healthy aging, insights were gained that can be used as a base for the development of novel technologies.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Programme:Creative Technology BSc (50447)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92322
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