My Dissertation Proposal

The exploration and development of recreational therapeutic approaches to palliative care for Milford Care Centre patients.

The aim of my thesis is to explore ways of using imagery with other therapeutic disciplines to maximise the benefit of care to palliative care patients. In doing so I will combine an exercise motomed bike (that is already being used by patients in the physiotherapy gym in the Millford Care Centre) with imagery to enable a patient to visualize and experience the feeling of a journey. The combination of technology and creativity here could be of great benefit in the healthcare area and therefore improve palliative care. The feeling of a journey for a patient would be a good aspect and could combat the feeling of restriction a patient might be experiencing.

By combining physiotherapy and art and incorporating them with the motomed bike, the patient gets the opportunity to create their own art electronically. One means of accomplishing this is through the use of a wacum tablet or similar device and connect it to the bike. The Tablet would be particularly of use to patients who have difficulties holding a pen or using a keyboard. The Wacum tablet would include a library of shapes and predictions to assist the individual compose an image (like in adobe flash). Assistive Technology such as Screen Keyboards (My-T-Soft AT) that provides On-Screen keyboard emulation could also be incorporated into this design. It’s features include word Prediction or Completion and complete control over all computer functions. Such resources could provide relief to patients from distressing symptoms and act as a support system to help patients live as actively as possible.

Taking travel plans not fulfilled or history of foreign places not studied into consideration. I would also like to give patients the chance to explore creatively in mind. I want to combine these elements, take the illness of the patient into consideration and incorporate them with technology using the motomed. A feature of the motomed could include a pedal to flick through galleries of images or photos and also the patient could “cycle” through their chosen destination. A Google maps style approach would be taken where the patient can select a place they would like to visit, view postcards from that particular place and then cycle through the destination like down a street and at each point they can touch on an object to find out information about it. The place marks will then have links to Wikipedia or a similar site. If the patient is physically unable to use the pedals they can opt to use a hand held touch pad device. Features include the options for patients to choose from a collection of images to replicate. View art online, learn about artists and movements, take from that, interpret it if they wish and produce that style or image for themselves. JQuery code is an idea of how I could go about this idea, it would be like creating a series of animated postcards (image with pop up boxes) with an interactive picture that will expand on upon clicking. This involves a lot of work with code, particularly css style of code which I hope to get a better grasp of in the process of making my thesis project!!!:)

If you have any ideas or even criticisms i will be happy to hear them all, so dont be afraid to leave me a comment or two even!!