JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

People with intellectual and other disabilities tend to have problems performing multistep tasks. To alleviate their problems, technology solutions have been developed that provide task-step instructions. Instructions are generally delivered on people’s request (e.g., as they touch an area of a computer or tablet screen) or automatically, at preset intervals.

Objective:

The present study carried out a preliminary assessment of a new tablet-based technology system that presented the task instructions when people walked close to the tablet rather than when they performed fine motor responses (e.g., scrolling) on the tablet screen.

Methods:

The system consisted of a tablet and a wireless camera and was programmed to present the first or next instruction of a task sequence as soon as the participants approached the tablet, that is, as the participants were spotted by the camera that was positioned before the tablet. Six participants were involved in the study. For three of them, two instructions were used for each task step. For the other three participants, a single instruction was used for each task step. Instructions consisted of pictorial representations combined with brief verbal description of the corresponding action (task step). The impact of the system was assessed for each of the two groups of participants using a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across individuals.

Results:

All participants were successful in using the system. Their mean frequency of correct task steps were close to or above 11.5 for tasks including 12 steps. Their level of correct performance tended to be much lower during the baseline phase when they were to get the task instructions from a regular tablet through scrolling responses.

Conclusions:

The findings, which need to be interpreted with caution given the preliminary nature of the study, suggest that the new tablet-based technology system might be a useful tool for supporting the performance of multistep tasks.