Digital tools have the potential to support people with Parkinson’s in managing their condition, while also helping healthcare professionals make more informed and timely decisions. But for these systems to be useful in practice, they need to fit the needs, capabilities and everyday experiences of the people who use them.
This project investigates how digital self-management and clinical decision-support tools for Parkinson’s can be designed to be more usable, accessible and person-centred. The work focuses on SMaRT-PD, a digital system designed to combine symptom monitoring, self-management recommendations and clinical decision support for people with Parkinson’s and healthcare professionals.
Understanding the people behind the technology
Parkinson’s affects people in different ways, with motor, cognitive and non-motor symptoms varying between individuals and over time. This means that a digital system that works well for one person may be difficult or inappropriate for another.
A key part of the research is therefore understanding how people with Parkinson’s experience existing digital tools, what makes them easy or difficult to use, what information they find useful, and what may create barriers to engagement. The project also considers the needs of healthcare professionals and how digital systems can fit alongside existing clinical workflows.
Rather than designing technology first and evaluating it afterwards, the project takes a user-centred approach in which people with Parkinson’s and healthcare professionals contribute to understanding requirements, shaping interfaces and deciding how information should be presented.
What are we investigating?
The project explores questions including:
- What makes a digital health application easy or difficult for people with Parkinson’s to use?
- How do motor, cognitive and other characteristics of Parkinson’s influence interaction with digital technologies?
- What information do people with Parkinson’s need to understand and manage their condition effectively?
- How should complex health information be presented so that it is understandable without becoming overwhelming?
- What features encourage people to engage with digital self-management tools over time?
- How can digital systems accommodate the different needs and abilities of individual users?
- How should patient-facing information differ from information designed for healthcare professionals?
- How can digital decision-support systems fit naturally into existing clinical workflows rather than adding additional workload?
- Which information should be prioritised when clinicians are reviewing a patient’s health data?
- How can people with Parkinson’s and healthcare professionals be involved directly in designing these systems?
- What interaction methods—such as dashboards, alerts or conversational interfaces—are most appropriate for different types of information?
- How can we evaluate whether a digital health system is genuinely usable, acceptable and useful in everyday care?
From understanding users to better design
The research moves from understanding user experiences to co-designing and evaluating new interfaces.
Interviews, observations, systematic reviews and focus groups are being used to identify the needs of people with Parkinson’s and healthcare professionals. These insights then inform co-design workshops in which participants can help determine what information should be shown, how it should be structured, and how the system should communicate with its users.
Prototype interfaces will then be evaluated through usability testing and realistic scenarios, with the aim of identifying where interaction remains difficult and refining the design before wider implementation.
Ultimately, the project asks a broader question:
How can digital health technologies be designed around the needs of people with Parkinson’s and the healthcare professionals who support them?
Team
Hannah Kim (PhD student), Newcastle University
Dr Precious Onyeachu (main supervisor), Newcastle University
Dr Alma Cantu (co-supervisor), Newcastle University
Dr Camille Carroll (co-supervisor), Newcastle University