Grandpaw: uma proposta de aplicativo móvel educativo para o gerenciamento das necessidades de tutores de cães idosos

Abstract

With the longevity of canine life increasing more and more, specific situations arise in the geriatric phase of the dog in which tutors have no experience, such as administering medications and offering a good nutritional plan for the animal. These situations, classified as mismanaged care, occur due to the fact that the tutor, for the most part, does not use solutions that helps in managing the needs of the elderly dog, and does not have specific knowledge related to what should be expected from this final stage of life. Based on this problem, this project aims to present a solution called GrandPaw, a prototype application for mobile devices that offers the user features such as setting reminders for walks, medications, vaccines and changing wound dressings, as well as an area to upload documents related to the animal such as exams and prescriptions. The proposed solution also has a nutritional area with healthy recipes for owners to offer for their elderly dogs, and a profile area with gamification to make the elderly dog care process more interesting, in addition to having educational resources, which are triggered in the form of informative notices according to the information that the user provides. This solution was prototyped through the use of Garrett's layers methodology, and was substantiated through questionnaires with the target audience, as well as usability tests and the calculation of the usability scale (SUS). This project highlighted the potential that the use of information technology and UX/UI concepts can have when related to other fields of science, such as veterinary science. In this case, the use of technology proved to be useful for administering medication at the correct times, offering food to the animal in a healthy way, stimulating physical exercise for the animal and treating the animal in general.