Characterizing the Interaction of the Effects of a Museum Visit on Mobility, Cognition, and Well-being in People with Stroke

Study description

This exploratory small case study operated by Medical Physics Laboratory & Digital Innovation of School of Medicine of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) is a collaborative study between AUTH and McGill-CRIR-Canada, and for this reason it followed and replicated part of the protocol of the Canadian VITALISE partners described above. The aim of this particular small-case study was to investigate the interaction of the effects of a museum visit (Museum of Casts and Antiquities in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) on mobility, cognition, well-being and the experience of individuals, as well as to investigate whether cognitively and verbally accessible audio guides of exhibits contribute to a better understanding of the descriptions of these exhibits, through measurements made using advanced technologies. In this context, the data collected aimed also to draw some conclusions regarding the feasibility and user satisfaction of conducting a range of different measurements and interventions in a museum setting.

Piloting phase: The piloting phase began in May 2023 and was concluded at the end of the year. Prior to the museum visit, the participants were administered some questionnaires in the Thessaloniki Action for HeAlth & Wellbeing Living Lab - Thess-AHALL, aiming to obtain a holistic view on their cognitive status, as well as dimensions of their physical and mental wellbeing and quality of life. Questionnaires during the museum visit.xlsx

Afterwards, the participants, one at a time, entered the museum with the members from the project’s research team, where they were asked to wear some specific equipment. In particular, they initially wore a pair of smart insoles (Digitsole Pro Smart Insoles) (Digitsole-pro-museum-dataset.csv) and a smart watch (Smartwatch-Fitbit Charge 5) Fitbit Datasets.zip  and were asked to walk at their own pace following a predetermined guided tour route through the museum spaces and exhibits. Breaks were provided whenever requested by the participants.After completing their guided tour in the museum, they were asked to wear eye-tracking glasses (Pupil Labs) Pupils-dataset.zip and headphones to listen to audio descriptions (audio guides) of three selected exhibits, the Tombstone, the Hermes of Praxiteles and the West Pediment from the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Specifically, they were asked to stand in front of three (3) exhibits and listen to the description. For each of the three exhibits, participants first listened to their original description (a description that someone can usually find next to the exhibit or in a relevant educational textbook) and then they listened to the modified, accessible version of the exhibit description (with simpler words, shorter sentences etc.). After each audio description (original and modified), they were asked to answer a number of predetermined questions related to the audio description they had just heard.

At the end, after the aforementioned equipment was removed, they were asked to answer a number of questions and questionnaires about their overall museum experience and potential challenges or stress experienced (Satisfaction and feasibility questionnaire, Visual Analog Stress scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) Analysis feasibility & satisfaction questionnaire.xlsx.