Helping Challenged Pet Owning Seniors

(User-Centered Design at University of Washington)
Team Members: Jenn Chan, Grant Letz, Nathalie Manfull, and Tess Wolfe-Stelzer

pets USER RESEARCH

BACKGROUND

Pets improve their owners’ quality of life, but they become increasingly hard to care for as owners face increasing physical infirmity and/or economic pressures associated with age. Senior pet owners challenged by physical circumstances, time, or finances may not be able to adequately address their animals’ needs and welfare. We will explore the extent to which pet owners need assistance caring or providing for their pets.

INITIAL DESIGN QUESTION

How might we help aging pet owners better address their pets’ needs?

TARGET USERS

Elderly pet-owners in the Greater Seattle Area

USER RESEARCH

Surveys

  • Survey #1: Directed at pet owners. Distrbuted paper surveys to members of senior communities, and online surveys for senior pet-owners or people who can aid the less technically savvy seniors in their families.
  • Survey #2: Directed at friends and families of senior pet-owners.

Interviews

In addition to our target users, we also interiewed stakeholders from a local retirement community:
  • Assisted Living Activities Director
  • Skilled Nursing Activities Director
  • Director of Resident Services
  • Marketing Director

Guided Tours

We visited several retirement communities in order to directly observe the surroundings of our target users. These tours allowed us to assess the user group’s living situation and constraints, as well as to interview the tour guide.

Finding Summary

  • As seniors age, pet companionship becomes more important, but more burdensome.
  • Some subjects may be in denial regarding their pet’s hygiene and health needs.
  • Senior communities don't allow pets for members with assisted living.
  • Pet owners are willing to spend money on pet care.

PERSONAS

We created 3 personas ages 66, 77, and 82, with varying cognitive health, physical health, income, and technical abilities.
Persona Whiteboard Persona Whiteboard Persona Whiteboard

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

  • Must maintain the safety of the user
  • Must be affordable for the user with budgetary constraints
  • Should promote long term independence
  • Should accommodate physical limitations
  • Should ease the psychological burden

FINAL DESIGN QUESTION

How might we help independent senior (ages 60+) pet-owners with physical and/or budgetary concerns better care for and keep their pets?

pets IDEATION

BRAINSTORM

Brainstorm Post-Its

SKETCHES

Idea Sketch Idea Sketch Idea Sketch

pets PROTOTYPE

DESCRIPTION

A non-profit pet care service for people ages 60 and up. Seniors are paired with volunteers, who would help with their pet needs for a small administrative fee. Volunteers are carefully vetted before they are allowed to be in the program.
Brainstorm Post-Its Brainstorm Post-Its

USABILITY TESTING

Tasks

  1. Schedule a recurring service to clean your cat's litter box.
  2. Schedule a one time dog walking for your dog.
  3. Notify Friends for Life of an emergency situation.

Finding Summary

  • Wanted more information about the service model on the home page
  • Confusion on login screen and remembering the username and password
  • Sequential modal windows made it hard to recall what was previously selected
  • The Add Service and Emergency buttons relationship to the services calendar was unclear to users