HDR defense "Technologies for rehabilitation: from design to clinical use".

With a view to better understanding and assessing the user in his or her rehabilitative care, the development of new digital technologies in healthcare, and more specifically in rehabilitation, is increasingly emerging as a relevant solution to the challenges facing healthcare systems. These include changing medical demographics, territorial inequalities in access to care, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases and an ageing population. The challenges associated with their implementation are therefore numerous.

The concept of digital health is relatively recent, and the fields of application for which technologies have been mobilized remain very broad. Digital health technologies thus encompass diagnosis, treatment, clinical decision support, care management and care delivery, offering new prospects for support by and for healthcare systems. Taken together, these devices look very promising.

However, if a tool is poorly designed, used or deployed, the associated difficulties will outweigh the potential benefits. In the field of these new digital technologies, there are still far too many scientific and methodological hurdles to overcome. Indeed, technologies used in clinical settings such as virtual reality, phone apps, connected watches, embedded motion analysis tools, etc. are unfortunately not sufficiently adapted and optimized for users and clinicians/healthcare professionals, still too often and generally presenting poor usability.

This is why the research work presented in this dissertation is part of a multi-level scientific approach, i.e. examining and understanding technologies in real-life situations, so as to design and adapt the latter with a view to optimal care, and with a single aim: to improve users' mobility and autonomy. Most of my work focuses on seniors, with the general aim of helping them to age well, which is a major public health issue. To meet these objectives, my work and research projects are therefore organized around three main fields of application for digital health technologies, namely technologies as mobility analysis tools, technologies as physical activity promotion tools, and finally technologies as rehabilitation tools.

Rapporteurs:

• Mrs VUILLEMIN Anne, Professeur des Universités, Université Côte d'Azur
• Mr ARMAND Stéphane, Professeur, Kinesiology Laboratory - HUG/UNIGE
• Mr DEHAIL Patrick, Professeur des Universités - Praticien Hospitalier, CHU de Bordeaux

Examiners:

• Mrs NADEAU Sylvie, Professeur des Universités, Université de Montréal
• Mr BOBILLIER-CHAUMON Marc-Éric, Professeur des Universités, CNAM Paris

Guest members:

• Mrs PELAYO Sylvia, University Professor, University of Lille
• Mr BREDIN Jonathan, Director, Rossetti Health Center, Nice
• Mr DJELLAL Abdelaziz, President of the SFTAG, Paris

Scientific referent:

• Mr PUDLO Philippe, Professeur des Universités, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Valenciennes
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