Interdisciplinary Development Teams Research Articles

Multi-stage optimization strategy based on contextual analysis to create M-health components for case management model in breast cancer transitional care: the CMBM study as an example

BackgroundNone of the early M-Health applications are designed for case management care services. This study aims to describe the process of developing a M-health component for the case management model in breast cancer transitional care and to highlight methods for solving the common obstacles faced during the application of M-health nursing service.MethodsWe followed a four-step process: (a) Forming a cross-functional interdisciplinary development team containing two sub-teams, one for content development and the other for software development. (b) Applying self-management theory as the theoretical framework to develop the M-health application, using contextual analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the case management needs of oncology nursing specialists and the supportive care needs of out-of-hospital breast cancer patients. We validated the preliminary concepts of the framework and functionality of the M-health application through multiple interdisciplinary team discussions. (c) Adopting a multi-stage optimization strategy consisting of three progressive stages: screening, refining, and confirmation to develop and continually improve the WeChat mini-programs. (d) Following the user-centered principle throughout the development process and involving oncology nursing specialists and breast cancer patients at every stage.ResultsThrough a continuous, iterative development process and rigorous testing, we have developed patient-end and nurse-end program for breast cancer case management. The patient-end program contains four functional modules: “Information”, “Interaction”, “Management”, and “My”, while the nurse-end program includes three functional modules: “Consultation”, “Management”, and “My”. The patient-end program scored 78.75 on the System Usability Scale and showed a 100% task passing rate, indicating that the programs were easy to use.ConclusionsBased on the contextual analysis, multi-stage optimization strategy, and interdisciplinary team work, a WeChat mini-program has been developed tailored to the requirements of the nurses and patients. This approach leverages the expertise of professionals from multiple disciplines to create effective and evidence-based solutions that can improve patient outcomes and quality of care.

A Web-Based Stratified Stepped Care Platform for Mental Well-being (TourHeart+): User-Centered Research and Design.

Internet-based mental health interventions have been demonstrated to be effective in alleviating psychological distress and promoting mental well-being. However, real-world uptake and engagement of such interventions have been low. Rather than being stand-alone interventions, situating internet-based interventions under a stratified stepped care system can support users to continue with mental health practice and monitor their mental health status for timely services that are commensurate with their needs. A user-centered approach should be used in the development of such web-based platforms to understand the facilitators and barriers in user engagement to enhance platform uptake, usability, and adherence so it can support the users' continued adoption and practice of self-care for their mental health. The aim of this study was to describe the design process taken to develop a web-based stratified stepped care mental health platform, TourHeart+, using a user-centered approach that gathers target users' perceptions on mental self-care and feedback on the platform design and incorporates them into the design. The process involved a design workshop with the interdisciplinary development team, user interviews, and 2 usability testing sessions on the flow of registration and mental health assessment and the web-based self-help interventions of the platform. The data collected were summarized as descriptive statistics if appropriate and insights are extracted inductively. Qualitative data were extracted using a thematic coding approach. In the design workshop, the team generated empathy maps and point-of-view statements related to the possible mental health needs of target users. Four user personas and related processes in the mental health self-care journey were developed based on user interviews. Design considerations were derived based on the insights drawn from the personas and mental health self-care journey. Survey results from 104 users during usability testing showed that the overall experience during registration and mental health assessment was friendly, and they felt cared for, although no statistically significant differences on preference ratings were found between using a web-based questionnaire tool and through an interactive chatbot, except that chatbot format was deemed more interesting. Facilitators of and barriers to registering the platform and completing the mental health assessment were identified through user feedback during simulation with mock-ups. In the usability testing for guided self-help interventions, users expressed pain points in course adherence, and corresponding amendments were made in the flow and design of the web-based courses. The design process and findings presented in the study are important in developing a user-centric platform to optimize users' acceptance and usability of a web-based stratified stepped care platform with guided self-help interventions for mental well-being. Accounting for users' perceptions and needs toward mental health self-care and their experiences in the design process can enhance the usability of an evidence-based mental health platform on the web.

Towards a guide for developers and novice researchers on human-centered design of the take-over request—Combining user experience and human factors

With major developments in road traffic, especially automated and connected driving, new challenges in designing human-vehicle interaction arise. Human Factors is a field of research that analyzes the interaction between humans and systems to reduce error and increase productivity, safety and comfort. Related to that, User Experience (UX) Design is based on the human-centered design process and the principle of considering human needs throughout the development cycle. We highlight similarities and differences and discuss how the combination of these two disciplines can help developers facing one of the urgent challenges in automated driving: the design of take-over scenarios from automated to manual driving. To address this question, we present an exemplary process flow that combines elements of Human Factors and UX Design in order to develop safe and pleasant to use solutions. In this context, relevant theoretical models and practical methods are discussed.Practical Relevance: This paper aims to guide an interdisciplinary development team through the design of the take-over scenario using the human-centered design process (ISO 2019): Phase (0) problem statement; (1 & 2) understand the context of use and identify user requirements; (3) formulate meaningful How-might-we questions and generate ideas; and (4) collect user feedback to evaluate the designed solution. This article provides starting points for both researchers in academia as well as developers in the industry and contributes to the lively discourse about the self-image of human-centered design and corresponding disciplines.

Why this app: Can a video‐based intervention help parents identify quality educational apps?

AbstractResearchers recommend that parents look for five benchmarks as indicators of quality educational apps (ie, scaffolding, curriculum, development team, feedback, learning theory), yet results show that parents undervalue some of these benchmarks. The current study examined if a short video‐based intervention would enhance parents' value‐judgements of apps featuring the five educational benchmarks. In original and modified app experiments (n = 100; n = 101), parents of children 4–11 years old were randomly assigned to watch either a 9‐minute video that detailed how the five benchmarks augment learning, or a 2‐minute control video. Parents evaluated 10 simulated apps containing either benchmarks or buzzwords. The original app experiment shows that a brief intervention can help parents identify quality educational apps via the benchmarks, but the modified app experiment suggests it only works if developers are using specific keywords in app descriptions. Helping parents select quality educational apps is more complicated than simply telling them what to look for. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Parents have a main role in selecting apps and deciding on how often children use them; however, they have difficulty evaluating an app's educational potential in a market mixed with high‐ and low‐quality products that lacks a standard for including educational apps on the App Store. There are five research‐based benchmarks that are indicators of quality educational apps. These include apps created by an interdisciplinary development team, having a guiding curriculum with a clear purpose, including scaffolding and feedback, and being based on a learning theory. However, parents are not valuing all of these educational benchmarks equally. Educational videos disseminated via YouTube have become an established medium to enhance people's knowledge. Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning, which suggests that people learn better when there is both auditory and visual information given together, is a framework used to design educational videos. What this paper adds This study leveraged a useful, accessible medium (ie, educational YouTube videos) to make research on educational apps accessible enough such that it could influence parents' app selection. Parents of children aged 4–11 years‐old viewed either an educational intervention‐ or control‐video and assessed educational apps through measures that replicate how consumers evaluate apps on the App Store (ie, their willingness to download the app, how much they would pay, their rating, and ranking). Original and modified app experiments demonstrate that a brief, educational video designed using key features from Mayer's multimedia theory can improve parents' app selection. In the original app experiment, parents in the intervention group are valuing the guiding curriculum and development team benchmarks over others, which may be due to the structure of the intervention video (ie, worked‐examples immediately after pre‐training of benchmarks). In the modified app experiment, parents in the intervention group did not differ from the control group in their evaluations of the different benchmarks apart from rating the app with learning theory higher and ranking the guiding curriculum benchmark lower. The higher rating of learning theory may be a result of the language change in the simulated app to include more user‐friendly terms. The unexpected ranking result may be due to a limitation with the measure. Building on prior research on the educational benchmarks, these experiments show that parents are valuing them over buzzwords; however, even when shown an educational video, they are not valuing them all equally. Implications for practice and/or policy An educational video based on the five educational benchmarks could be used as a tool to easily disseminate knowledge to enhance parents' educational app selection. The experiments shed light on the complexity of knowledge dissemination to the public. While there is evidence for the use of research‐based educational videos to disseminate knowledge to parents when selecting educational apps, the App Store descriptions should include accessible language that makes the research‐based benchmarks easy to select. This study also provides suggestions for improving the development of educational videos.

Feature‐driven systems engineering procedure for standardized product‐line development

AbstractNumerous systems engineering (SE) methods for the model‐based and textual specification of systems focus on managing complexity solely by partitioning the system based on physical structures or by defining different views of the system and therefore reach their limits in agile development. The increasing demand for an agile system development requires an agile systems engineering procedure for the model‐based and textual top‐down specification of systems. Although function‐based development, variant management, and product line development are well established in software engineering, previous work has failed to introduce methods for the agile specification of systems by combining established methods from systems and software engineering. For that purpose, this paper demonstrates a new SE methodology, which for the first time combines conventional SE methods with the agile development procedure of feature‐driven development. The methodology is systematically developed based on theoretical analyses and its suitability for the application‐specific definition of feature‐driven development processes is demonstrated using the example of reference architectures for XiL simulation models of electric vehicles. By applying feature‐driven development, the resulting CUBE methodology enhances collaboration in interdisciplinary development teams and enables companies to adapt development processes to a more agile top‐down specification of systems.

Art, Design and Communication Theory in Creating the Communicative Social Robot 'Haru'.

Haru is a social, affective robot designed to support a wide range of research into human–robot communication. This article analyses the design process for Haru beta, identifying how both visual and performing arts were an essential part of that process, contributing to ideas of Haru’s communication as a science and as an art. Initially, the article examines how a modified form of Design Thinking shaped the work of the interdisciplinary development team—including animators, performers and sketch artists working alongside roboticists—to frame Haru’s interaction style in line with sociopsychological and cybernetic–semiotic communication theory. From these perspectives on communication, the focus is on creating a robot that is persuasive and able to transmit precise information clearly. The article moves on to highlight two alternative perspectives on communication, based on phenomenological and sociocultural theories, from which such a robot can be further developed as a more flexible and dynamic communicative agent. The various theoretical perspectives introduced are brought together by considering communication across three elements: encounter, story and dance. Finally, the article explores the potential of Haru as a research platform for human–robot communication across various scenarios designed to investigate how to support long-term interactions between humans and robots in different contexts. In particular, it gives an overview of plans for humanities-based, qualitative research with Haru.

Accessible Digital Musical Instruments—A Review of Musical Interfaces in Inclusive Music Practice

Current advancements in music technology enable the creation of customized Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs). This paper presents a systematic review of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) in inclusive music practice. History of research concerned with facilitating inclusion in music-making is outlined, and current state of developments and trends in the field are discussed. Although the use of music technology in music therapy contexts has attracted more attention in recent years, the topic has been relatively unexplored in Computer Music literature. This review investigates a total of 113 publications focusing on ADMIs. Based on the 83 instruments in this dataset, ten control interface types were identified: tangible controllers, touchless controllers, Brain–Computer Music Interfaces (BCMIs), adapted instruments, wearable controllers or prosthetic devices, mouth-operated controllers, audio controllers, gaze controllers, touchscreen controllers and mouse-controlled interfaces. The majority of the AMDIs were tangible or physical controllers. Although the haptic modality could potentially play an important role in musical interaction for many user groups, relatively few of the ADMIs (14.5%) incorporated vibrotactile feedback. Aspects judged to be important for successful ADMI design were instrument adaptability and customization, user participation, iterative prototyping, and interdisciplinary development teams.

Design and development process of a next-generation training system for spinal surgery

For the development of a new-generation training system for spinal surgery, an iterative development cycle based on four steps was used. By using (i) empathy, (ii) cognitive model, (iii) prototyping and testing, and (iv) validation, an interdisciplinary development team was able to successfully build and validate a training system for lumbar disc surgery. The training system consists of a realistic training model based on synthetic materials and an accompanying training concept. It allows the training of different scenarios, starting from basic surgical tasks to complex surgeries with different complications. This article describes the development process and the results of the validation of the training system.

Managing technology development teams – exploring the case of microsytems and nanosystems

New sensor and actuator concepts based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are increasingly being developed from lab status toward commercialization. The associated technology development for the provision of improved functionalities and cost reduction often requires highly interdisciplinary development teams where scientists and engineers from different disciplines closely work together. Managing these teams is a key challenge for MEMS/NEMS organizations. This research examined eight technology developments in MEMS/NEMS in international companies. Based on in‐depth interviews with innovators, we explored the managerial aspects of development teams. We identified and discuss (1) leadership, (2) market, (3) team structure and culture, (4) innovation motivation, (5) innovation driver, (6) experience and know‐how, and (7) product vision and innovation strategy as key influences on teams in the early development phases of MEMS/NEMS. Our study reveals that integrative and manufacturing know‐how and capabilities are the most critical capacities to be developed by the team from the idea to the concept phase. The team's lived experience during long development times from 5 to 10 years or more may allow a fast response to changes from market and technology (e.g. materials and nanotechnology). The results indicate that the process of how know‐how and capabilities are created by the team is more important than the mere existence of specific expertise.

Model-based evolution of collaborative agent-based systems

Abstract As demands for behaviorally sophisticated software grow, agent-based systems are increasingly being employed. Software agents are frequently applied to large, complex systems that involve interdisciplinary development teams. These complex systems have proved to be challenging to develop and evolve, even for the most competent software engineers. Taking lessons learned in other engineering disciplines such as computer and architectural engineering we investigated a model-based engineering approach called Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) to automate, whenever possible, the development and evolution of agent-based applications. In our investigation, we use the Cognitive Agent Architecture (Cougaar); one of the most mature and sophisticated collaborative agent-based architectures. MDA and Cougaar served as the primary components and implementation platform for our research. In this paper we present our approach and demonstrate how MDA is effective for producing sophisticated agent-based systems. A key challenge was found in designing a flexible meta-model framework that would accommodate both top-down domain information and bottom-up platform specific constructs, as well as the transformations and mappings between them. We employed a General Domain Application Model (GDAM) as the platform-independent model layer and General Cougaar Application Model (GCAM) layer as the platform specific model respectively. Domain-level requirements are formulated using a XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) based graphical editor and are the refined through a series of model transformations (via the underlying metamodel) to systematically generate the agent-based software system. Through an illustrative case-study, we report on the feasibility, strengths and limitations of the model-based approach as it was investigated with the Cougaar.

When worlds collide: Integrated development with business and design students

Interdisciplinary development teams have emerged as a key to stimulating organizational creativity. However, Paul Rothstein has discovered in a course he teaches on the subject, with three other colleagues, that making such collaboration work is a demanding task, especially as business and design student perceptions about and openness to this approach change as they experience the process.