A Personalized 3D-Printed Hand Prosthesis for Early Intervention in Children With Congenital Below-Elbow Deficiency: User-Centered Design Case Study

The adoption of prosthetic hands by children with congenital upper limb deficiency from a very early age has benefits in terms of reducing prosthesis abandonment, improving body image, and mitigating developmental and physiological complications that arise from the underuse of the deficit arm. However, current hand prostheses present drawbacks that make them not suitable for very young children. This study investigates the design requirements of a prosthesis for very young children with congenital below-elbow deficiency using a user-centered design (UCD) approach. The UCD puts the child at the center of the design process, with parents as mediators between the child and the design team. The study was conducted with an interdisciplinary team over three years, with several prototypes developed for different growth stages of the child. This paper presents the adopted UCD approach and its timeline, the iterative prototypes of the prosthesis developed throughout the study, and the final prototype with a focus on its child-friendly features. Finally, the paper describes the design requirements concluded from the study and the authors’ recommendations for implementing prosthetic hands in below-elbow early intervention.