Understanding my users- work shadowing

Last semester I was a little worried because I didn’t set up a focus group, I think it is achievable this month providing I work hard with the electronics and have a clear idea about the ins and out of my idea. I did feel that I was lacking some user input, I had great responses from ‘the middle agers’ some nice interactions between family members for instance notes to one another, coming round for meals on a particularly day and sms texting. This holidays I have arranged to try to understand from the professionals point of view what is needed for people leading independent lives and how they go about understanding what they need. To understand I spent the morning  last Thursday shadowing an occupational therapist at the Cumberland hospital, I have signed the privacy forms and can’t say too much about my experience but it did give me another perspective on how to design for people who are needing extra help, obviously because it was a hospital the patients have been ill and may not cope as well as they previously did. I was able to witness what types of assessment patients were given to judge how independently they will live outside of hospital.

It made me think about my project and how it might be suitable for those just out of hospital, those people who were needing maybe that little bit of reassurance as well as the other care call style devices that can be fitted throughout the home. I would like my product to be more like a personal style care product.