Appendix B: Primary Research/Interview Summary

Introduction

Courtney Celian, the project partner, has directly worked with Gregory in his recovery. She was able to provide context and deepen our understanding of Gregory's, the key user, condition. As defined within the design challenge, Gregory struggles with measurement due to his proprioception, meaning that Gregory is unable to judge the amount of liquid he is pouring. Through interviews he informed us on his goals for our design. Communicating with him allowed us to get an understanding of his requirements and goals, such as being able to be independent in the kitchen, as well as which products he would be able to use. We were also able to form an understanding of the dynamic at his home, such as how he completes other tasks with alternative products that assist him. Likewise through observing Gregory pour liquids we were able to learn the extent of his issues with measurement. We were also able to observe him use other kitchen related products. All of this has provided us with the context required to move forward with our design, with the criteria described by Gregory.

Methodology

Our Zoom interviews have consisted of an interview with Courtney Celian, an occupational therapist at the ShirleyRyan AbilityLab, Gregory, our primary user, and Susannah, his wife and designated caregiver. This interview and presentation occurred on September 22, 2021. Another interview was conducted on September 29, 2021 with Gregory and Susannah, and was primarily focused on user observation of Gregory (with Susannah's interjections where necessary). This observation and interview was also completed through Zoom.

The first interview was set-up as an initial presentation from our liaison from the partner/stakeholder company ShirleyRyan AbilityLab, Courtney Celian. She informed us about the most common effects of stroke, the rate of occurrence in the United States, the logistics of how a stroke happens, the role of an occupational therapist, and an overview of the stakeholder’s take on our design project. Then, she allowed our section to ask questions to her as well as Gregory and Susannah. We also were informed of the general logistics and intricacies of Gregory’s condition, and the limitations this might have on his everyday life. The research tools used consisted of interview and dialogue, as well as presentation and response.

The second interview conducted was led primarily by Gregory, Susannah and our class section, and was classified as a user observation. As a class, we were introduced to Gregory’s kitchen workspace, a few of his tools, and learned what things he likes to cook the most. Our methods consisted of asking Gregory about his kitchen habits, while also taking notes on the tacit information gained from observation. Susannah interjected in the demonstrations where necessary. This observation/interview was also conducted on Zoom, and each team within our section debriefed the observation afterward to compare information and begin a small amount of analysis.

Results

In our first interview, Ms. Courtney Celian, an OT from ShirleyRyan AbilityLab who works with Gregory, taught us some background information about stroke. She taught us about the factors influencing the length of the recovery period for a stroke patient: type of stroke, size & location of stroke, other diseases, and age. We also learned about proprioception, which is perception of position, motion, and force generated by the body. Around 30-48% of stroke survivors lose their sense of proprioception. Gregory is among one of the survivors who has lost this ability, which is the cause for his difficulty in measuring ingredients. Another loss he experienced from his stroke was that he became paralyzed on the left side of his body, so he cannot use his left arm and must do everything one-handed. Because of these deficits, Gregory often needs help from his wife and primary caretaker, Susannah. Gregory loves cooking (he attended culinary school prior to the stroke), and his favorite thing to cook is soup (specifically bean and lentil), but he needs assistance in the kitchen. Because of the loss of proprioception, Gregory has trouble with measuring things; for example, Gregory often overfills his daily cup of coffee, and Susannah has to stop him before he does. Because of his paralysis, he can only use one hand, which means he needs Susannah to carry pots once they have been filled with water, and he also relies on her for a lot of the clean up process in the kitchen after cooking. Gregory also uses some assistive technology to help him with daily tasks so that he can do things independently: for example, he has a tray that holds bottles/cans in place so they can be opened with one hand, a magnetic can opener, an envelope opener, and a grip in the sink for washing dishes with one hand. However, there is no device that helps Gregory measure out ingredients, which is the design challenge we will be solving for him. The only existing solutions are MaxiAids, which makes a sound when a cup is full (however, Gregory has never used these because they only work for cups/small containers and they only stop when the cup is full, not to a specific measurement) and the finger technique, which is where you put your finger where you want your container to be filled to and fill with a liquid until it touches your finger, and then you stop pouring the liquid (Gregory uses this technique for filling his cat’s water dish, but he can’t use it on hot liquids).

Discussion

From the interviews and observations held with our project partner and key user, we were able to deduce the following conclusions and implications. First, we learned that Gregory only has function in one of his arms, his right arm to be specific. So, this implies that the device we design must be able to be operated with only a single arm. We also learned that Gregory can lift up to twenty pounds with his right arm which we must also keep into consideration while in the designing process. We were also able to identify that Gregory responds well to auditory stimulation, so having some type of auditory feedback in the final design would be beneficial. We also deduced that Gregory’s wife, Susannah, does the heavy lifting in the cooking process. She is responsible for carrying the large, heavy vessels, such as pots and pans, that Gregory uses to cook. We haven’t derived any immediate implication from this, but it could be of use throughout the design process. While we were able to gather a good amount of knowledge from our interview process, there are a few pieces of information that we were unable to collect. For example, while we were able to see Gregory’s cooking environment, we were unable to see him actually cook anything which would have given us a great magnitude of extra detail in understanding how he cooks. We were also unable to get an evaluation on the effectiveness of existing solutions on the market, such as MaxiAids, because he has never tried using such products. We also don’t know much about Gregory’s connection with ShirleyRyan AbilityLab, besides the fact that Courtney Celian, our project partner, is his occupational therapist. We have no idea what his therapy sessions look like or how far he is in the recovery process by the lab’s standards.