Rehabilitation Therapists as Software Creators?: Introducing End-User Development in a Healthcare Setting

Abstract

The authors discuss the feasibility of End-User Development (EUD)for non-information workers in the context of neurorehabilitation. The authors present a three-week long field deployment of TagTrainer, a system that enables therapists to create, share, and use exercises for arm-hand training with a tangible interactive tabletop application. The experiences suggest that therapists are capable and motivated to create content that is tailored to the training needs of their patients. Three key challenges are identified for enabling EUD practices in a clinical setting, which appear to have a broader relevance outside the specific domain of neurorehabilitation: more support for retrieval and sharing of existing solutions developed by end users,guiding end-user developers to ensure usability and software quality for their creations, and aligning with the revenue model of the organization.