Travelling with my soulmate: participatory design of a mHealth travel companion for older adults with cognitive impairments

Abstract: Mobility is an important factor in the coming about of quality of life of older adults. In this article, we discuss the participatory design process of a mobile mobility aid for older adults (SOULMATE), which resulted in a service model and functional specifications. We conducted 12 design sessions in Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in which we involved older adults and other stakeholders. The main values that older adults seek to satisfy, with respect to mobility, are comfort, speed, and affordability. They also experience a myriad of problematic situations while travelling, such as complicated ticketing systems for public transport. Participants’ thoughts on the role of technology and their reactions towards existing applications resulted in a service model for SOULMATE that consists of four modules: Travel planning, assistance, discovery and training. Their functioning is detailed in a list of (non)functional requirements. As a next step, prototypes of the SOULMATE technolog y will be developed and tested iteratively