Category: PPI

Happy New Year!

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It certainly seems a bit hollow using the title above given all that many of us face in our world today. Whether you’re affected by the pandemic, political, racial re-awakening, climate issue, etc., I can only hope that we are all nearing the end of troubling tunnels and heading into lighter and more positive times.

As with our lives, one chapter closes and another begins. So it is with the SensorAble project.

As 2020 came to a close, my research is nearing completion of phase one (the Public Participant Information study–PPI) and the second phase (Sensory-Attention-Anxiety experiments–SAS-II) commences.

black vintage typewriter

I am hoping to begin publishing some emerging outputs and statistical results from the PPI in the coming year. I will be identifying the lived-experience data obtained from my study participants (N=196) along with the statistical analyses and implications this has in relation to a development of a solution to address multimodal distractibility, anxiety and attentional focus.

Further, one of the labs I participate in (UCL’s Development Diversity Lab–DDL) will be extending my PPI beyond neurodiverse individuals to include neurotypical (NT) participants. Stay tuned to this space if you’d like to be considered for this upcoming study.

SAS-II is already well underway having moved into coding and pre-test mode. I intend on further testing throughout the next 90 days and launching a recruitment strategy for both autistic and NT individuals. Likewise…keep your eyes on this space if you’re inclined to help design and test the future of sensory technologies.

cup of aromatic cappuccino with thank you words on foam
Photo by wewe yang on Pexels.com

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has helped out thusfar with my research including my esteemed supervisors Professor Kaśka Porayska-Pomsta, Drs Sarah White and Joni Holmes. There’s not a better trio of rock-stars on the planet, and I am honored to retain your guidance and friendshop. My two research assistants (Anushay Mazhar and Oonagh Coleman) have been incredibly kind and are beyond brilliant! Of course, my lab colleagues at UCL’s Knowledge Lab (KL), the aforementioned DDL and University of Cambridge’s Cognition, Education and Emotion Lab (CEE) which is part of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. I wish all 0f you, along with my dearest family and friends, a bright new year filled with health, happiness and prosperity.

Peace and love,

-David

Pre-Prints For Your Consideration

david.ruttenberg.18Articles

Research Gate - David Ruttenberg Pre-prints
Four initial pre-prints offered for your review and comments.

Since late 2019 and through the more recent months, I have had the pleasure of finally memorializing some of my research and resultant studies in four (4) pre-print articles.

And while these articles have not yet a home in a peer-reviewed journal, I am offering links to them here for your reading pleasure. These drafts are, of course, subject to edit and modifications, so please be gentle with your comments (which are, of course, encouraged).

You can access the articles here. Please feel free either reading these online or downloading them at your leisure.

Enjoy!

-David

SensorAble Participant Public Information Studies Now Closed

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Thank you
I am pleased to report that both the SensorAble Online Focus Group and Surveys are now completed. Thanks to everyone who provided their incredible participation, guidance and kindness.
SensorAble Online Survey
Your support may lead to the development of theory and research that just might make the world a little less distracting and anxiety-producing for the neurodiverse.
SensorAble Focus Group

Stay tuned to this space as I continue to scrub the data, and provide updates on what the research yields. Baby steps initially, leading to the development of my PhD thesis and hopefully some tangible results that provide autonomy, greater participation and comfort at both school, work and other venues.

Thank you and please stay safe and well during these most unusual times.

SensorAble Online Survey Now Open!

david.ruttenberg.18PPI

 

For those of you interested in taking part in the first phase of the SensorAble Study…

If you’re ages 15-54 and have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder or identify as Autistic, the Focus Group portion of enrollment is now completed. However…

A limited number of paid positions in the online Survey are still available by clicking here.

This project is co-produced with other individuals like you in order to understand their/your lived experiences and then create a wearable prototype. The prototype aims to limit and filter unwanted sensory-stimuli and deliver early-warning alerts of distracting and anxiety-producing events.

To join, you will need to confirm that you are:

  • 15-54 years of age and have access to the internet.
  • Able to complete an online survey.

I look forward to hearing from you!

A portion of the SensorAble Focus Group is funded through Facilitation of Participant Public Information (PPI) under the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in conjunction with a partnership between UCL, University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre and the NHS Foundation Trust (reference: BRC743/DR/104990). The remainder of the study is not associated with any external organising and/or funding association and is self-funded by the researcher.

NHS Logo UCLH and NHS Foundation Trust.   UCL Logo

PPI PhD Starter Grant

david.ruttenberg.18Funding

NIHR UCL Biomedical Research Center

Overview

The National Institute for Health Research–UK’s largest funder of health and care research–recently awarded one of two grants to David Ruttenberg to carry out Patient Public Involvement (PPI) research for the SensorAble project on Adaptive Wearable Appropriateness as an Autistic intervention. This award is made possible through the generous support of the University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.

About the research

90% of autistic adults report that sensory issues cause significant barriers at school/work. Wearable technologies offer the possibility to monitor environments and adjust user-experiences. A PPI co-produced with individuals that incorporates their lived-experiences may well translate into a prototype aiming to squelch unwanted sensory-stimuli and deliver early-warning/alerts of distracting and anxiety-producing events.

“By targeting an often-neglected group, this project contrasts with other interventions that focus on ‘fixing’ socio-communicative difficulties by ‘teaching’ individuals to conform to their surroundings,” Ruttenberg reports. “Instead, my study aims to empower users with customized supports for their particular needs and may increase their comfort, productivity and autonomy.”

Find out more

You can learn more about that SensorAble project here at the project website.

For more information, you may also wish to contact David.

Updated: 14 March 2020

Online questionnaire/survey time…

david.ruttenberg.18Blog

Gorilla Experiment Builder ImageThis day was spent considering, conceiving, creating, piloting and launching an online questionnaire/survey in response to a Doctoral Training Research Methods Module assignment.

While not a lengthy project (in terms of questions/scope), the amount of planning and reflexivity was not trivial. This is because the activity occurs at an extremely poignant time in my research trajectory; specifically, implementing interviews for at-risk individuals that form that underpinnings of the first stage of my research.

Specifically, critical Participant Public Information studies (in the format of both focus groups and questionnaires) determine whether or research participants confirm my proposed hypotheses. Without their “buy in” and willingness to tolerate wearable devices, my PhD Project will not “have the legs” to withstand the community’s rigor regarding respect, difference and adaptation. Until this point in my academic career, I had not explicitly defined any guideposts with respect to the scope, design and implementation of a PPI questionnaire and its related guidance and adaptability to focus group input; hence, the timing could not have been better.

Once I completed and deployed the questionnaire, I prepared for additional peer review assignments and editorial posts by completing half of the modules in the academy program I mentioned I enrolled in earlier this week. My goal is to complete the remaining modules within a week’s time (including the generation of two pre-print reviews) so that I may focus only on my mentoring role my colleague. Looking further into the future, I intend on requesting my supervisors consider me as a volunteer/assistant in their peer review roles by helping alleviate their schedules.

Before the end of the day, I completed mapping out the remaining KL Seminar announcements for February 2002’s events. Even though this process hasn’t been fully automated, my intention is to do as much as I can via computer macros; such that, when it comes time to hand-off the opportunity to my successor, their job will be made that much easier.

And with that, tomorrow starts another interesting and hopefully productive week.

Monday monday….

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Today is a writing, writing and “more” writing day!

After inhaling the magic of my morning coffee elixir, I began early today by creating, editing and publishing a brand-new website announcing my PhD Project Research (along with the first official project-centric blog post). Once completed, these pages (screen captures) became a component of my MPhil/PhD Upgrade Report’s “Appendices Section”.

In order to round out this Appendix, I completed authoring a Post-mortem Participant-Public-Information Survey. This particular document is to be completed by participants who complete the lived-experience PPI Study (e.g. either a focus group or questionnaire) that form the first phase of my three-part study.

And finally, after spending the afternoon programmatically coding the aforementioned questionnaire in the Gorilla Experiment Builder application, I ran preliminary tests on the actual “main section” of the PPI. Once test data collection was confirmed, secured and anonymised, I then captured screens for inclusion in the aforementioned Appendix.

Of course, there were about two dozen email relating to doctoral training modules, student government documents for upcoming Governance Meetings and several National Student Survey documents that needed my attention prior to convening next week’s UCL Trustee/Student Union Meetings.

Certainly, there’s never a dull moment as a PhD Student…distance learners included! Now I am off to get some exercise with our daughter and prepare—what will hopefully be—a lovely dinner for the family. The it’s back to (you guessed it) more literature research!