Week Six

Readers,

I'm sorry I didn't make this blogpost on Saturday, I couldn't attend the testing because I had to take an AP Euro mock exam ( :( ). But, I did have a marvelous meeting with my advisors today where we discussed A LOT of different topics. The testing was done with incredible speed, so they were able to gather heaps of data points (so exciting!). I've decided that in order to best explain everything we talked about and that occurred during testing, I'd make each topic its own post. Today, I think it'd be best to cover something that's necessary across the board for any type of human research, instead of something only specific to my own project--quality of life.

Quality of life can be determined by a lot of things. According to PubMed, it's defined as, "Considerable agreement exists that quality of life is multidimensional. Coverage may be categorised within five dimensions: physical wellbeing, material wellbeing, social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, and development and activity." Often, we see a comparison of quality of life from country to country. For example, one might say that the quality of life is better in the United States than in Syria.

In some human research, quality of life means that the subject feels content with adjustments being made to them. My project, for example, tries to ensure that while using the BiOM, subjects don't feel any discomfort--mentally or physically. It also relies on agility, an ability to move quickly and with the same comfort and ease that a normal person would. To measure agility there are two common tests used: 1. the T-test and 2. the Up-and-Go test. The T-test has subjects walk first forward 10 meters, to the left 5 meters by sidestepping, to the right 10 meters by sidestepping, back left 5 meters (again sidestepping) and finally 10 meters backward to the starting position--forming a "T". The Up-and-Go test has subjects initially sitting down, then standing up, walking 10 meters, walking back, and sitting back down. This is a good measure of agility (and thus quality of life because they are able to perform quick yet simple walking movements) to use while testing the BiOM to ensure that the BiOM is not only performing well physically but creates ease and comfort for users. Remember, it's important to realize that even if the BiOM could function well under physical requirements, that doesn't matter unless the subject feels comfortable and satisfied with the device. For example, one of our subjects has worn a passive device for 10+ years (in fact he's had the prosthesis longer than he had a human lower limb) and feels mentally uncomfortable wearing the BiOM because it makes a small noise (due to the motor), whereas the passive device does not. This disturbs his quality of life.

Hope you found that interesting!
Pooja