A quality in use model for ambient assisted living (AAL) systems

Abstract

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) aims to improve the people’s quality of life, especially vulnerable groups, with the support of information technologies, increasing the autonomy, self-confidence and mobility of the users in their daily activities. Hence, it is essential to know the end-user's opinion about the perceived quality when using an AAL system in terms of the degree of satisfaction of their real needs and achieved objectives. However, since AAL is a relatively new domain, existing quality models are limited, with an incomplete set of attributes and metrics. Therefore, this research proposes a quality in use model for AAL systems focused on the followings characteristics: effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, freedom from risk, and context coverage; and their corresponding metrics adjusted to the AAL domain. Finally, the proposed model has been applied as a guideline during the evaluation of an intelligent pillbox. The results of this application have proven that this model is a valuable tool for evaluating the results and effects of using an AAL system from the perspectives of either a primary user (e.g., elderly people, people with special needs, patients) or a secondary user (e.g., family, caregivers). Consequently, it identifies essential aspects that contribute to improving the quality of those systems.