The purpose of this literature review is to enhance understanding of methods and processes used in living laboratories, (henceforth living labs), that are concerned with the co-creation of technological and service innovations with older adults. It is relevant to the growing discourse about how to enable the uptake and use of goods and services designed to promote older adults’ independence and how to amplify the potential for economic growth that the demand for such goods and services offers. In this paper, the methods for co-creating with older adults in living labs are explored through a scoping review of the literature. The review utilises a set of tools advanced by Arksey and O’Malley’s (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8(1):19–32, 2005) framework, to collect, evaluate and present the available literature and provide a rigorous and transparent analysis to allow other researchers to replicate the study if they so wish. The findings suggest that a broad range of methods (some of which follow user-centred design and participatory research approaches) are used in living laboratories with older people from being observed interacting with products to them having full involvement in design processes and activities. These might be carried out over short, mid or long durations and in a variety of temporary or permanent settings (e.g., personal homes, mock-up homes, community centres). The analysis also points to greater value being placed on those methods that have high and active user involvement in co-creation, in comparison to methods that have lower engagement with users in the process. However, reflecting on the literature, the authors of this paper suggest that when co-creating with older adults, a level of creative thinking might be necessary, particularly in situations where user needs cannot be readily articulated and this may indicate the need for using less active user involvement methods. This review of the literature suggests that inclusive, user-centred approaches are most conducive with ‘needs finding’ and effective ‘co-creation’ with older adults. Moreover, individual living labs can benefit from adopting a repertoire of methods, borrow from other disciplines, and adapt a flexibility of approach for effective co-creation with older adults.

SUMMARY: Continual low-level exposure of sheep to the helminth Teladorsagia circumcincta elicits a temporary protective immunity, where factors in the immune abomasal mucosa prevent penetration of infective larvae, but which is essentially lost within 6 weeks of cessation of parasite challenge. Here, a proteomic approach was used to identify proteins that are differentially regulated in immune compared to naïve sheep, as potential key mediators of immunity. Six naïve sheep and 12 sheep trickle-infected with T. circumcincta were treated with anthelmintic, and the naïve (control) and 6 immune sheep were killed 7 days later. The remaining 6 sheep (immune waning) were killed 42 days after anthelmintic treatment. Abomasal tissue samples were subjected to 2D-gel electrophoresis and densitometric analysis. Selected spots (n=73) were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting and confirmatory Western blotting was carried out for 10 proteins. Spots selectively up-regulated in immune versus control, but not immune waning versus control sheep, included galectin-15 and thioredoxin, which were confirmed by Western blotting. In immune sheep, serum albumin was significantly down-regulated and albumin proteolytic cleavage fragments were increased compared to controls. Unexpectedly, albumin mRNA was relatively highly expressed in control mucosa, down-regulated in immune, and was immunolocalized to mucus-producing epithelial cells. Thus we have identified differential expression of a number of proteins following T. circumcincta trickle infection that may play a role in host protection and inhibition of parasite establishment.

Higher education institutions are uniquely placed to introduce emotional coping skills to promote resilience in pre-registration nurses in order to reduce anxiety and increase confidence before they enter clinical placement for the first time. In this qualitative study, we will explore the use of a 360-degree video in developing skills for coping. The participants will be mental health nursing students. We will develop a 360-degree video in collaboration with a mental health service user. All participants will watch the video. A sub-group will receive a supportive clinical supervision discussion within a cognitive reappraisal/solution-focused/VERA framework. We will record the experiences of the participant to explore: (1) how students felt about the use of 360-degree video, as an education tool to build skills of resilience; (2) whether the students involved felt more confident and less anxious about the situation in the video as a result of participating in the cognitive reappraisal/solution-focused/VERA supervision discussion.

Background: Centre-PR may not be accessible for people living distant from PR centres. Remote digital PR may have equivalent benefits to centre-PR; however, previous trials were potentially biased towards digitally literate patients, and largely excluded participants with a preference for centre-PR. There is limited data on the real-world implementation of, and acceptability for, Digital-PR alone or as an adjunct to other models of PR. Objectives: To gather patients’ views about the acceptability of Active+me REMOTE, a digital pulmonary rehabilitation app (Digital-PR). Methods: A qualitative exploratory study using semi-structured interviews with a subset (n = 15) of patients in a mixed method, feasibility study of a hybrid pulmonary rehabilitation, blending Digital-PR with other models of PR. Transcribed data were coded descriptively using Braun and Clarkes’ methodology, data interpretation was facilitated through a Miro virtual whiteboard. Results: There was appreciation for the concept of Digital-PR, indicated by positive responses in the domains of “friends and family recommendation,” “intention to continue using the app,” and “privacy concerns.” Benefits were reported by two participants who had declined centre-based PR. The app was rated low regarding user-friendliness. Challenges in understanding/using the app and a perception of challenges for others were reported and were associated with poor digital literacy and tech savviness. High digital skills did not predict a favourable assessment of the app as user-friendly. Discussion: Whilst there was a general appreciation for the concept of digital PR as an adjunct or alternative to traditional centre-based PR, the app did not appear to be user-friendly, nor acceptable to people with low digital literacy. The findings have implications for the wider routine implementation of Digital-PR.