DR 1.5: Design, ontology and evaluation of PAL prototype supporting shared child-caregiver responsibility

In the third design-test cycle of PAL, we refined the prototype based on the outcomes of the previous cycles and additional user feedback sessions. The new protype was improved on its overall usability, goal setting & achievements framework, personalised child-agent interactions, educational content, gamification and the dashboards for parents (PAL Inform). The underpinning knowledge and rationale was recorded in the ontologies and Socio-Cognitive Engineering Tool (SCET; see PAL deliverable D6.13). In an experiment, care with PAL was compared with care as usual for the diabetes self-management of children with T1DM (age 7-14), focusing on (1) determinants of behaviour  knowledge, awareness and skills), (2) the actual self-management behaviour (i.e., performing self-management activities and adhering to personalised diabetes goals), and (3) the treatment outcomes (i.e., glycaemic control). PAL showed to improve children’s knowledge, where time of PAL usage correlated  positively with this knowledge. In addition, PAL proved to increase the self-care score (particularly for the younger children), and enhanced the diabetes related quality of life score of children. Compared to this PAL prototype version (3.0), children spent their time more efficiently with an improved version (3.5).