We'll stay in touch: Intuitive communication means for social connectedness

One of the dominant aspects in people’s well-being is social connectedness. Social connectedness refers to the subjective awareness of being in close interpersonal, meaningful, and positive social relationships and social contexts (Tilburg et al., 1998; Perlman & Paplau 1981). In our research project we studied whether new services and high-tech products can help to increase connectedness between families (i.e. small community). A multidisciplinary approach is adopted in which technical and Human Factors knowledge are combined. The technology approach is strongly based on rapid prototyping, extending, reusing, and integrating existing devices and services in a novel, innovative way. Human Factors knowledge aims at user-centred design and evaluation of a.o. user experiences. When people are forced to leave their home environment for a period of time, the lack of social connectedness might become predominant. This might lead to feelings of loneliness and have a negative effect on wellbeing. The focus in this project is on spinal cord lesion patients in a rehabilitation clinic, and their family members at home. Spinal cord lesion patients have to stay in the rehabilitation clinic up to one year after their accident or illness. The project consists of three phases: 1. Inventory of technology possibilities and restrictions, and user requirements; 2. Technical probe study; one technical device is tested 3. Pilot study; an integrated combination of technological devices and services is tested