Close to the body
Project group
- Sonja Iltanen, University of Art and Industrial Design, Helsinki, sonja.iltanen@taik.fi
- Marjo Rauhala, Vienna Technology University, marjo.rauhala@fortec.tuwien.ac.at
- Kristiina Saarikalle, (STAKES), kristiina.saarikalle@stakes.fi
- Päivi Topo (project leader), Academy of Finland & STAKES, paivi.topo@stakes.fi
Background & Aim
Ethical issues related to design appear to be more evident when
the users are somehow in a vulnerable situation. In such situations
it is also important to ask how users are included in the design
process and who presents and represents their needs and desires.
The main question in the study is: How are ethical issues intertwined
in the design of the functional, aesthetic and
expressive features of the products that are used in care
environments or that are used to compensate functional
impairments?
Patient Clothing: Psychosocial needs ignored
- Designers of patient clothing aim at designing clothes that are
comfortable to wear. However, in the design process only perceptions
of care staff and industrial laundry service are included.
Patients’ views are represented by the care staff.
- Whereas physical needs and durability are well taken into account
in the patient clothing products that are available in the
market, the psychosocial ones are often left with less attention.
These needs include the cultural acceptance of patient clothing,
such as possibility to dress according to one’s gender and age,
aesthetic acceptance and awareness of the semipublic nature of
care environments.
- Many patient clothes available in the market display features
which restrict action and agency of the patient.
- Only very few products support action or enable it.
The demands of economic efficiency in the industrial laundry
services, understaffing and the lack of time of care personnel, and
the limitations of industrial clothing production are the main
challenges for the improvement of the design of patient clothing.
The study is based on a survey of companies that design patient
clothing in Finland, interviews and product assessments with designers
and patients, and analyses of patient clothing product catalogues.
Assistive Technology: User participation beneficial & challenging
- The case study on assistive technologies showed that involving
users in the development process may decrease the time spent
on development and improve users’ acceptance of the end product.
- User participation may also contribute to correcting the
developers’ images of users and their needs.
- Technology developers face difficulties in eliciting the kind of information
from users that helps them in solving problems in design.
This study investigated the development process from initial idea
to a commercial product of an assistive device for persons with
severe functional impairments. It offers an overview of ethical
questions that may emerge in involving end users in the
process of assistive technology development and suggestions
for addressing them. For example, displaying a respectful
attitude toward users with disabilities in a research setting means
that the techniques for user needs elicitation are selected based
on the users’ skills and abilities. In this way, participants can project
positive images of themselves and experiences of failure can be
avoided. This is one prerequisite for collecting useful data from users.
Main publications
- Rauhala, M. 2007. Ethics and Assistive Technology Design for Vulnerable Users: A Case
Study. Research Report 165. Helsinki: STAKES, National Research and Development
Centre for Welfare and Health.
- Iltanen, S. & Topo, P. Ethical implications of design practices. The case of
industrially manufactured patient clothing in Finland. Proceedings of Design Inquiries
- The 2nd Nordic Design Research Conference. Konstfack
27–30.5.2007, Stockholm, www.nordes.org/upload/papers/111.pdf.
- Iltanen, S. & Topo, P. 2007. Potilasvaatteet, pitkäaikaishoidossa olevan ihmisen toimijuus
ja etiikka – vaatesuunnittelijoiden näkemyksiä (Patient clothing, agency of persons in
long-term care and ethics – Designers’ views). Gerontologia 21 (3), 231–245.
- Iltanen, S. & Topo, P. Designing Clothes for Patients: A Design Survey and Visual
Analyses of Product Catalogues, (submitted).
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