title: What makes a good home-based nocturnal seizure detector? A value sensitive design.
abstract: A device for the in-home detection of nocturnal seizures is currently being developed in the Netherlands, to improve care for patients with severe epilepsy. It is recognized that the design of medical technology is not value neutral: perspectives of users and developers are influential in design, and design choices influence these perspectives. However, during development processes, these influences are generally ignored and value-related choices remain implicit and poorly argued for. In the development process of the seizure detector we aimed to take values of all stakeholders into consideration. Therefore, we performed a parallel ethics study, using "value sensitive design." Analysis of stakeholder communication (in meetings and e-mail messages) identified five important values, namely, health, trust, autonomy, accessibility, and reliability. Stakeholders were then asked to give feedback on the choice of these values and how they should be interpreted. In a next step, the values were related to design choices relevant for the device, and then the consequences (risks and benefits) of these choices were investigated. Currently the process of design and testing of the device is still ongoing. The device will be validated in a trial in which the identified consequences of design choices are measured as secondary endpoints. Value sensitive design methodology is feasible for the development of new medical technology and can help designers substantiate the choices in their design.
authors: University Medical Centre Utrecht, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: van Andel
authors: University Medical Centre Utrecht, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Frans
authors: F
authors: Leijten
authors: University Medical Centre Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: van Delden
authors: University Medical Centre Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Ghislaine
authors: G
authors: van Thiel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000941:ethics* / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000941:ethics*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012648:Self Care / Q000941:ethics* / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012890:Sleep; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult