Educative therapeutic tool to promote the empowerment of disabled people

• Published in: Revista IEEE América Latina Vol. 14; no. 7; pp. 3410 - 3417
• Main Authors: Rybarczyk, Yves, Vernay, Didier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Alamitos IEEE 01.07.2016; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Chronic illnesses; Diseases; Face; inclusive technology; Nanoelectromechanical systems; Neuromuscular; neuromuscular disabilities; Servers; therapeutic education; Usability; Web and collaborative technology
• DOI: 10.1109/TLA.2016.7587649
• ISSN: 1548-0992

The therapeutic patient education (TPE) aims at helping patients to understand diseases and treatments, and collaborate in healthcare by taking an active role in the management of a chronic disease. This transition from the classical patient compliance to empowerment is a revolutionary concept in medicine. However, this consensual idea is not easy to implement. A patient with a chronic disease is surrounded by several health professionals who use their own technical language, which impedes the interdisciplinary exchange of information between specialists and from the caregiver to the patient. In order to enhance the TPE, we have developed a Web-based application that permits a customized and strategic evaluation of neuromuscular deficiencies as a whole. This project's main challenge is to construct a tool which is accessible for ordinary people but still maintains useful information for professionals. The proposed approach promotes an active involvement of the patient, by allowing for self-evaluation. Results from a usability test show a large satisfaction of the participants in using the software.