Data Uncertainty and m-Health Interaction Design for Aging People

In an era in which aging people have to avoid unnecessary travel to the hospital and risky situations, the medical and healthcare sector are facing more and more of the challenges brought by the digital transformation. A considerable change is taking place in the m-Health sector, since mobile devices, e.g., tablets and smartphones, are increasingly used by citizens. Starting from the need for social contact, through remote monitoring, up to homecare assistance, this chapter will focus on the design and development of m-Health applications that provide coaching services related to physical and cognitive exercise, social relationships and nutrition, to aging people and their formal and informal caregivers. When sensors and medical devices are integrated with m-Health technologies, the services’ development grows exponentially, including early detection and prevention, behavioral monitoring, coaching, etc. In this context, the eco-system becomes more complex since the sensors’ integration generates the acquisition of a large amount of data that requires the application of complex data analysis strategies, e.g., Artificial Intelligence (AI). At this point, the m-Health services to be provided to the final users, i.e., aging people and their caregivers, are based on a measurement process characterized by data acquisition, data analysis, and final service with increasing levels of uncertainty in all the steps of the measurement process. Human-centered design is here proposed as a methodological approach to provide the developers with an interpretation reference defined by the users’ needs, limitations and capabilities and a mean to challenge uncertainty based on user requirements and information needs. Coaching scenarios are data-driven flexible descriptions that require a representation of actions, events, or situations able to explain evidence-based user journeys and to trigger future behaviors, investigating its possible performance, the usage opportunities, the technical weaknesses and validating the design and development hypothesis before actual fulfillment.