User-Informed Adaptation in IoT Home Healthcare: Grounding Development in Empirical Evidence

Abstract

IoT (Internet of Things)-enabled products are increasingly used by consumers and continuously propagate in daily life. Billions of networked objects not only increase the complexity of development but also raise user interaction and adaptation to individual needs. The more non-expert users are involved in decision making, interaction, and adaptation processes, the more user-centric IoT design is crucial, particularly when the number of elderly users is steadily increasing. In this paper, we study the capabilities of adopting IoT products through user-informed adaptation in a major IoT application domain, home healthcare. We review evidence from established practice in the field on how users can be supported when aiming to adapt medical IoT (M-IoT) home applications to their needs. We examine the empirically grounded use of IoT sensors and actuators, as well as the adaptation process users adopt when using an IoT application in a personalized environment. Our analysis (technological evidence) reveals various IoT devices that have already been applied in M-IoT adaptation settings to effectively support users. Our analysis reveals that only few empirically sound findings exist on how users actually perceive interactive adaptation features and redesign M-IoT applications. Based on the analysis of these empirically grounded findings, we suggest the development of a domain-specific user-centric adaptation feature. Specifically, we exemplify a tangible adaptation device for user-informed M-IoT application in home healthcare. It has been developed prototypically and tested in an environment for personalized home healthcare.