Emotional Experience Framework Enhances Smart Care for Older Adults

Why It Matters

Understanding the emotional responses of users is crucial for designing effective and engaging services, particularly for vulnerable populations like older adults. This approach moves beyond mere functionality to address the psychological and emotional well-being of users, leading to more human-centred and successful design outcomes.

Key Finding

The research developed a system to measure how older adults feel about smart care services, identifying their emotional preferences and needs to suggest specific improvements.

Key Findings

• An emotional experience evaluation system for smart care services for older adults was successfully constructed, incorporating PAD theory and service design principles.
• Quantitative data on older adults' emotional experience tendencies and emotional requirement assessments for various system indicators were obtained.
• Specific improvement strategies for smart care service systems were proposed based on the analysis of emotional and demand dimensions.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can an emotional experience evaluation framework, informed by PAD theory and service design, be developed and applied to quantitatively assess and improve smart care service systems for older adults in Chinese community settings?

Method: Mixed-methods research (qualitative and quantitative)

Procedure: The study employed qualitative methods to understand older adults' experiences within smart care services. Service scenario interaction touchpoints were mapped, deconstructed, clustered, and transformed. Evaluation indicators were established across smart devices, online software, and offline services to build an emotional experience evaluation system. Quantitative methods were then used to measure user emotional valence, assessing emotional experience tendencies and emotional requirement assessments.

Context: Smart care service systems for older adults in Chinese community settings.

Design Principle

Design services that not only meet functional needs but also positively impact the emotional well-being of the user, especially in contexts involving potentially vulnerable populations.

How to Apply

Develop a user emotional experience questionnaire based on PAD dimensions (Pleasure, Arousal, Dominance) and apply it to users interacting with a service prototype. Analyze the results to identify emotional gaps and inform design iterations.

Limitations

The findings are specific to the Chinese community settings studied and may not be directly generalizable to other cultural contexts without adaptation.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: This study shows how to ask older people how they *feel* about technology designed to help them, not just if it works, so we can make it better for them emotionally.

Why This Matters: Understanding user emotions is key to creating products and services that people will actually want to use and that genuinely improve their lives, especially for groups like the elderly.

Critical Thinking: To what extent can quantitative measures truly capture the complex and subjective nature of human emotion, and what are the risks of oversimplifying emotional experiences in design?

IA-Ready Paragraph: This design project acknowledges the critical role of emotional experience in user engagement, particularly for older adults interacting with smart care systems. Drawing upon established frameworks such as the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) theory, this research aims to quantitatively assess user emotions, moving beyond functional usability to address the affective dimension of the user experience. By understanding emotional tendencies and requirements, design decisions can be better informed to create more empathetic and effective solutions.

Project Tips

• Consider using established psychological models like PAD to structure your emotional evaluation.
• Combine interviews and observations with quantitative surveys to get a richer understanding of user emotions.

How to Use in IA

• Use the framework to justify the need for user emotional testing in your design project.
• Reference the PAD theory as a basis for your emotional measurement methods.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of how emotional factors influence user adoption and satisfaction.
• Show how you've moved beyond basic usability to consider the affective dimension of the user experience.

Independent Variable: Smart care service system components (devices, software, offline services).

Dependent Variable: User emotional experience (tendencies and requirement assessment based on PAD).

Controlled Variables: Demographic characteristics of older adults, specific community setting.

Strengths

• Integrates psychological theory (PAD) with practical design methodology (service design).
• Employs a mixed-methods approach for a comprehensive understanding of user experience.

Critical Questions

• How can the PAD framework be adapted for different age groups or cultural contexts?
• What are the ethical considerations when designing emotional evaluation systems for vulnerable populations?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the long-term emotional impact of assistive technologies on older adults' independence and well-being.
• Explore how gamification elements, informed by emotional design principles, can increase engagement with health monitoring systems.

Source

Improving the smart care service system for older adults: an emotional experience evaluation framework in the Chinese community · Frontiers in Public Health · 2025 · 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1614150