사용성 평가를 통한 척수손상장애인용 실내 핸드바이크의 디자인 개선

Abstract

<Background> Spinal cord injury disorders have decreased physical activity due to spinal cord injury. These problems increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Existing studies have proposed an indoor handbike, an exercise device for people with spinal cord injury, to prevent such problems. However, the usability of persons with spinal cord injury to indoor handbike has not been verified. Therefore, usability evaluation is required. Therefore, this study intended to propose indoor handbike with improved usability by conducting usability evaluations on indoor handbike. <Methods> For the study, the following research methods were conducted. First, through literature examination, we understood people with spinal cord injury and handbike. Second, evaluation indicators were selected through expert review. Seven people with spinal cord injuries were recruited. Third, the four stages of entry, movement, manipulation, and exit, which are the stages of use of the handbike, were set as performance tasks and the usability evaluation was carried out. Fourth, the direction of improvement was presented for the problems derived through usability evaluation. Fifth, based on the direction of improvement, handbike designs and prototypes for indoor use were presented. <Result> Based on the evaluation results of the three evaluation indicators (effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction), problems and improvement directions for indoor handbike are derived. Subsequently, the interior handbike design was proposed with the direction of improvement. As a major improvement in GUI, smartphone usage is applied considering familiar and intuitive usability. Other components incorporate a six-stage height adjustment function that takes into account a variety of physical conditions. In addition, covers are applied to handbike frames, wheels, and cranks to prevent user safety and contamination. <Conclusion> Analysis of the usability evaluation results of indoor handbike showed that the usability varies greatly depending on the range of movement of the body and the type of mobility aids according to the scope of spinal cord damage. It is significant in that designers, work therapy experts, and rehabilitation engineering experts participated in the usability evaluation to directly observe users' behavior and draw up improvement directions in terms of usability, design, rehabilitation effect, and ergonomic design.