Thank you for your attention and we look forward to discussing this work with you during the
conference. Cooking is an integral part of independent
living. Technologies providing collaborative support that combine cognitive and physical
assistance in the home environment are still very rare, with most being focused on step-by-step
delivery of recipes, or choosing them based on goals such as health, sustainability, or
availability of ingredients.
Our paper contributes to the design of more integrated, holistic, and supportive technologies
in this space with the goal to support older adults to live in their homes longer – but
all the while supporting independence, confidence, and sociality.
Through detailed analyses of video recordings of older adults’ cooking without any assistive
technologies, we show the complexities of kitchen tasks. We present design principles
that can be embedded into future kitchen technologies to help ensure that such they fit the needs
and practices of older adults while achieving the goal of helping them with age in place.
We report findings from a qualitative study conducted among older adults (those 65 and
over) in their own home - where they lived alone or with their spouse.
The data consists of video recordings of of participants cooking a meal, as well as interviews
and informal conversations before and after the cooking session. Each recorded cooking
session lasted approximately 60 minutes, and was followed by a 30-minute interview.
Participants were recruited through their prior participation in design workshops at
the university and were asked to be prepared to make a meal of their own choice in their
own kitchen. All participants cooked recipes they were familiar with and had prepared before.
They were not asked to follow a formal recipe; however, they were free to do so.
The analysis of the video recordings was guided by the principles of the visual content analysis
method. The aim here is to unpack practices which are in plain view, seen but unnoticed.
While many actions in the kitchen, which is a familiar and intimate environment, are highly
routinised, they are also shaped in specific ways according to locale and unexpected
developments of the ongoing cooking task. The recordings were watched with an eye to
the flow of actions, conflicts, and interruptions in the cooking process. In order to focus
on age-related opportunities, instances involving fluencies or disfluencies in action due to
physical and cognitive changes were highlighted.
In an iterative process over multiple sessions, we extracted and categorised the clips of
these instances. Settling with top-level categories of Physical manipulations including cutting
and chopping and opening and closing Organisation and coordination of tasks including
switching between tasks and monitoring ongoing one
and Reorchestration and reorganisation including inserting and reordering tasks in the overall
cooking action
To protect the participants’ privacy as you can see their faces have been blurred
and pseudonyms have been used.
Participants demonstrated and described fluencies and disfluencies in actions ranging from opening
packages, using knives, lifting tools, and reaching for items in cabinets. The difficulties
they experienced could delay or interrupt the ongoing course of action, and while some
were resulting from age-related, physiological changes, such as lack of strength, or joint
pain, others were not.
In this example clip we see some of these issues, and highlight the support that could
be offered. Emily visibly struggles to chop an onion in this video, starting to chop in
a vertical motion with the knife in her right hand using her left to hold the onion and
chopping board but soon starts to struggle. Her limited strength plays a considerable
role, she stated that arthritis had made such actions increasingly painful and difficult,
showing the effects of changing Dexterity on the cooking task.
Emily’s difficulties in chopping this onion can in part also be explained by the knife’s
apparent bluntness. She adjusts her hold of both the knife and onion, continues to chop
using a sawing motion, while leaning her upper body closer to and over the counter highlighting
the opportunity to support Tool Choice & Maintenance.
As she then uses both hands to add pressure and control of the knife we see that the chopping
board starts to move – as does the onion itself. This points to a dexterity related
opportunity for physical intervention by providing support to secure and orient objects in the
kitchen as they are being used.
Another Method of achieving her goal of diced onions could also be suggested, taking into
account the temporal, local, and physical constraints in which Emily is operating.
In the paper we trace multiple examples though to principles for designing both Operational
and Organisation Assistance.
By operational assistance we mean supporting the practicalities of food cooking and preparation,
and for organisation assistance we see support needed to coordinate, re-plan, time, and secure
a successful outcome – good food in good time. The aim is that they ensure technologies
enhance independent living, and as such strengthen user’s skills and capabilities, rather than
automating actions.
Systems can track the position, maintenance, and suitability of tools for tasks the user
is undertaking. This should then be used to reinforce the user’s skills and competences
by supporting their choice of approach. For example, suggesting the use of a single-purpose
tool for chopping onions may be the most efficient for that particular sub-task – but finding,
assembling, using an unfamiliar tool, then cleaning and storing it should be taken into
account and systems should support the user in their choice to use a knife instead - but
guide them to a suitably sharpend and sized one.
Due to the day-to-day variability of physical and cognitive abilities (by all users) alternative
methods for tasks should be available and routinely encouraged so that coping mechanisms
are developed and practiced over a longer period of time.
Moving from one task to another requires fitting in with the temporal aspects of the cooking
process and the spatial layout of the kitchen itself and the locations of objects and tools
within it – all of which keep changing as the different tasks progress.
In supporting the organisation and coordination of cooking actions technology should then
present options, and there consequences, in a participatory manner – supporting rather
than instructing. Having the capability to provide this supported planning and coordination
also enables reassurance of the user and supporting them to reflect on the current progression
of the tasks they are carrying out during their food preparation.
Thank you for your attention and we look forward to discussing this work with you during the
conference.