Participatory Design & Aphasia: The Digital Food Diary Sunnere – Designed with and for Patients with Aphasia at Sunnaas Hospital

Abstract

Avoiding malnutrition is a vital aspect of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Sunnaas Hospital. However, understanding personal nutritional requirements and enabling informed dietary decisions can be difficult for aphasic patients. Aphasia impairs the ability to produce and comprehend language, which complicates social processes and the use of ICT. This thesis presents the prototype design of the digital food diary Sunnere, designed with and for aphasic patients employing Participatory Design, and investigates the implications of aphasia to participation in the design process using ethnographic methods. The study found that the Sunnere prototype accommodated the requirements of the aphasics involved, but that there is a need to involve future aphasic users since a degree of customisation is almost always needed. Having a pedagogical mindset was instrumental in supplementing Participatory Design, and teaching the aphasics to be co-designers through optimal learning, and in supporting the aphasics through instructional scaffolding.