A location-based prompting system to transition autonomously through vocational tasks for individuals with cognitive impairments.

This study assessed the possibility of training two individuals with cognitive impairments using location-based task prompting system in a supported employment program. This study was carried out according to an ABAB sequence in which A represented the baseline and B represented intervention phases. Data showed that the two participants significantly increased their target response, thus improving vocational job performance during the intervention phases. Practical and developmental implications of the findings are discussed.

Autonomous indoor wayfinding for individuals with cognitive impairments.

BACKGROUND: A challenge to individuals with cognitive impairments in wayfinding is how to remain oriented, recall routines, and travel in unfamiliar areas in a way relying on limited cognitive capacity. While people without disabilities often use maps or written directions as navigation tools or for remaining oriented, this cognitively-impaired population is very sensitive to issues of abstraction (e.g. icons on maps or signage) and presents the designer with a challenge to tailor navigation information specific to each user and context. METHODS: This paper describes an approach to providing distributed cognition support of travel guidance for persons with cognitive disabilities. A solution is proposed based on passive near-field RFID tags and scanning PDAs. A prototype is built and tested in field experiments with real subjects. The unique strength of the system is the ability to provide unique-to-the-user prompts that are triggered by context. The key to the approach is to spread the context awareness across the system, with the context being flagged by the RFID tags and the appropriate response being evoked by displaying the appropriate path guidance images indexed by the intersection of specific end-user and context ID embedded in RFID tags. RESULTS: We found that passive RFIDs generally served as good context for triggering navigation prompts, although individual differences in effectiveness varied. The results of controlled experiments provided more evidence with regard to applicabilities of the proposed autonomous indoor wayfinding method. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the ability to adapt indoor wayfinding devices for appropriate timing of directions and standing orientation will be particularly important.

Qualitative analysis of end user computing strategy and experiences in promoting nursing informatics in Taiwan.

The purpose of this study was to analyse end user computing strategy and experiences in promoting nursing informatics in Taiwan. In February 2004, an 8-day NI technology training campaign was held in Taipei for 60 clinical nurses. Excel VBA was used as the tool to teach the clinical nurses, who had never written any programs, but were very interested in informatics. Three projects were determined after detailed discussion and evaluation of clinical needs and technical feasibility between the nurses and the technical support team, which was composed of one experienced informatics professor and one clinical NI assistant. A qualitative analysis was used to interview the three pairs of programming clinical nurses and their direct supervisors with a structured but open questionnaire. Representative concepts were categorized from the data until all were categorized. The concepts were organized under three categories: the purposes, the benefits and the challenges of system development. According to this study, end user computing strategy with Excel VBA was successful so far.