Psychology
undergraduate student Elana Moore recently completed a 100-hour placement
working on the AcTo Dementia project within CATCH and the RAT Group, as part of
the On CampUS placement scheme at the University of Sheffield. AcTo Dementia is
a PhD project by RAT group and CATCH researcher Phil Joddrell, supervised by
Professor Arlene Astell. The project is focused on improving the accessibility
of touchscreen apps for people living with dementia. In this article, Elana discusses her
experience joining the research team and working on this project.
The AcTo Dementia project looks at
accessible touchscreen apps for people living with dementia. My role as
Research Assistant has been to work with Phil Joddrell (PhD Student running the
project) to finalise the analytical framework and utilise this to identify
suitable apps.
Finalising the analytical framework
used to evaluate the apps was an important task. The framework needed to
accurately reflect the most valued aspects of the apps in its score weighting,
for example an app that is ad-free with many customisation options will score higher
than those without these features. During my placement I have contributed to
the evaluation of the 48-item framework through the calculation of interrater
reliability scores, with statistical tests show a strong alpha value between
raters.
During my time with CATCH, I
evaluated a range of apps including board games, card games, puzzles, sports
games and art activities. The evaluation process includes identifying 10 apps
of the same nature, for example 10 ‘penalty shoot-out’ games, and scoring each
of them to distinguish the best app according to our framework. The highest
scoring app is then reviewed and posted online at www.actodementia.com. However, on occasion, apps that have been identified as the highest
scoring in their genre through the framework still aren’t considered suitable
for recommendation, such as those in the categories ‘air hockey’, ‘tin-can
knockdown’ and ‘basketball shootout’.
I have evaluated a wide range of apps,
from classic games such as Gin Rummy, Draughts, Four In A Row and Dominoes to
sports games such as Flick Kick Football. A personal favourite game identified
and evaluated by myself is Dots (by Playdots, Inc.). This novel game (pictured)
requires players to connect the coloured dots to make them disappear. This app
was a particular favourite of mine due to the appealing modern aesthetics and
unusual game play. I found the game to become quite addictive yet very simple
to play.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time
working within CATCH and on the AcTo Dementia project. I have found the
experience fulfilling in the knowledge that the reviewed apps might be useful for
people living with dementia. Working within a research group has also proven
exciting, it has bettered my understanding of what researchers do and how
passionate they are about their work. The experience has left me with a keen
interest in psychological research, with the hope of being involved in this
work in the future.
Please visit the websites below for further information:
Written by Elana Moore
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