Contextual Design Theory Applied to Wearables That Facilitate Kangaroo Care by Interviewing Mothers of Hospitalized Infants

When considering how to design medical devices considering the needs of the patient and hospital staff may seem sufficient. Hospitalized infants are patients who cannot speak or advocate for their needs; the parents and the hospital staff caring for infant patients have different roles that together are integral to an infant’s recovery. Figure 1 shows how mothers, nurses, and infants form a system of care to promote infant patient healing. In particular caregiver behaviors such as kangaroo care (KC), are dependent upon the involvement of family. KC, defined as bare skin-to-skin contact between an infant and an adult caregiver, is usually done chest-to-chest. The design of wearables for the caregivers holding the infant patient can make KC easier and be part of wearable medical device design that improves infant patient outcomes.