Home> Archive> 2018> Volume 8 Number 1 ( Jan. 2018)
IJSSH 2018 Vol.8(1): 31-36 ISSN: 2010-3646
doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2018.V8.929

Cane Design: A Preliminary Research Concerning on Cane and Elderly Users

Yi Vonn Wong and Sungho Yang

Abstract—There are many canes in the market focusing on different specific group of users. This study aims to amass data to identify problems face by cane user (CU) and potential cane user (PCU) to determine the specific user group for the new cane design. A series of preliminary research (systematic review, online questionnaires, interview and direct observations) focusing on cane and user experience was conducted for this research. For systematic review, 26 cane-related-articles were chosen and finalized from 3 online databases (PubMed, Medscope and Science Direct). An online questionnaire was distributed to 46 Malaysians, age 40 and above, to understand their current health status and how they perceive the use of cane. 3 elders above 75 years old were interviewed to understand their current difficulties and health status in depth. Finally, 3 uniquely designed canes were distributed and tested among a group of Koreans aged 20s, 30s and 40s without cane experience for user interaction observation. Research shows that cane should be used correctly as misuse of canes could cause the increase of elderly’s fall risk and thus affects the confidence of CU and PCU towards cane. First time users (FTU) of cane could be found among people in age group 50-59 years old. This research has suggested FTU as the specific user group of the new design as problems faced by CU and PCU are related to the lack of cane instruction in early stage. This study is conducted as a part of long-term project that ultimately designs a cane for the elderly.

Index Terms—Cane design, elderly, mobility aid, gait.

Yi Vonn Wong is with the Department of U-Design, Graduate School, Inje University, South Korea (e-mail: wongcalley@gmail.com).
Sungho Yang is with Department of Design Engineering, Inje University, South Korea (Corresponding author: Sungho Yang; e-mail: deyangsh@inje.ac.kr).

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Cite: Yi Vonn Wong and Sungho Yang, "Cane Design: A Preliminary Research Concerning on Cane and Elderly Users," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 页码, 2018.

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