Presentation at the 31st IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS 2018);

Rüdiger Pryss, Karlstad, Sweden, 20 June 2018, 15:20 PM

Many studies have revealed that homework (e.g., breathing exercises) is beneficial for the efficacy of therapeutic interventions. Interestingly, the latter were less supported by IT systems so far and, hence, promising opportunities have been neglected. For example, mobile devices may be used to notify patients about assigned homework and help them to accomplish it in a timely manner. In general, the use of mobile devices seems to be very promising in the context of remote therapeutic interventions, e.g., by utilizing the mobile device sensors. In the Albatros project, we develop a framework that shall enable domain experts to flexibly create homework in the context of remote therapeutic interventions based on mobile processes, which then run on mobile devices. To realize this vision, a configurator component applying a model-driven approach was developed. As the Albatros configurator shall relieve domain experts from complex technical issues, it should be proven that the experts are actually able to use it easily. The study presented in this paper investigates the applicability of the configurator component. Thereby, the conducted study revealed three valuable insights: First, basic interventions can be created with an acceptable number of errors. Second, for complex interventions, e.g., by using a sensor while performing an exercise, several aspects were identified to improve the Albatros configurator. Third, further experiments must be conducted to evaluate the overall mental effort when using the configurator. Altogether, the Albatros framework may be a reasonable alley to empower domain experts in creating homework in the context of remote therapeutic interventions.