The taxonomy of human goals in technology development: supporting needs of long-term care recipients and their caregivers in finding and accessing appropriate care

Background: Digital health innovations increase the options to enhance care practices, such as providing support in the complex task of organizing timely and appropriate care for long-term care recipients. Aiming to provide directions for technology development, this study investigated the needs of care recipients, specifically those facing cognitive challenges. We used a taxonomy of human goals to identify what long-term care recipients and caregivers value regarding care and support. Methods: Ten focus groups with 36 participants (23 care recipients and 13 caregivers) were conducted. Data were analyzed through a hybrid approach to thematic content analysis. The taxonomy of human goals served as a deductive framework, whereas inductive coding was applied to derive main themes and subthemes, elucidating the needs underlying the identified human goals. Results: Three overarching human goals emerged from the analysis: 1) Tranquility, 2) Self-determination, and 3) Social responsibility, with 18 human goals clustered under the overarching goals. Five main themes underlying the overarching goals provided a comprehensive understanding of the needs and desired outcomes for technology use. Additionally, two new human goals were identified: 4) Connectedness and 5) Being understood. Discussion: The existing taxonomy should be expanded with the newly identified human goals to enhance the representation of more vulnerable populations such as long-term care recipients. Moreover, various directions for technology are discussed, including the potential of a virtual assistant (i.e., conversational agent) sensitive to the different needs of long-term care recipients and caregivers.