title: Empowering elderly women with osteoarthritis through hands-on exploration of adaptive equipment concepts.
abstract: The study investigated the participation experiences of elderly women with hand limitations in a maketools-inspired activity for improving bottle openability and verified the usefulness of the results from this approach. Participatory design was used to stimulate participants' hands-on fabrication of new bottle lid concepts. Air-dry modeling clay, Crayola Model Magic® (Crayola LLC, 1100 Church Lane Easton, PA 18044-0431), clay modeling tools sets and empty bottles were the tools used to explore feasible and user-envisioned ideal lids that could potentially reduce hand pain and improve function when opening bottles. Twenty-five elderly women fully participated in the study. They generated 36 bottle lid design concepts. Qualitative analysis identified inclusion of four primary design features as follows: 1) surface texture; 2) increased leverage through lid shape or diameters; 3) increased contact surface with palm/fingers through lid shape or height; and 4) facilitation of alternative grip types. The major limitations of the study were inclusion of only women participants and healthier persons living in a retirement community. Future research is needed to investigate the bottle lid preferences of men and persons with more severe hand function living in places other than independent living communities.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Division of Occupational Therapy, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Flinn
authors.forename: Elizabeth B-N
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: Wei-Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Carolyn M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sommerich
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lavender
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006227:Hand Deformities, Acquired / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012656:Self-Help Devices
keywords: activities of daily living; arthritis; empowerment; hand; patient participation