Developing an Assistive Mobile Application for Elderly Nepali Migrants in the UK

Abstract

Over 77,000 Nepal-born residents live in England, many of whom are elderly Gurkha veterans who arrived following the 2009 Gurkha Justice Campaign. Despite over 200 years of military service to the British Crown, this population continues to face significant challenges adapting to daily life due to limited English proficiency, low digital literacy, and a lack of technology designed with their needs in mind. This study adopted a Human-Centred Design (HCD) methodology to design, implement, and evaluate Jana, a mobile application tailored to support older Nepali migrants in the UK. A survey with 68 participants identified complex navigation and literacy difficulty as the two primary barriers to mobile technology use, informing iterative low and high-fidelity prototyping evaluated by seven target demographic participants using the think-aloud protocol. Jana combined Nepali-English translation via camera and voice input, one-touch emergency service access, a community feed, and a Bikram Sambat calendar, built using React Native. A heuristic audit and summative task-based evaluation identified three recurring themes: translation, linear navigation, and icon comprehension, with measurable usability improvements across iterations. Six of seven participants confirmed they would use the application daily. The study produced six transferable design principles offering practical guidance for developers creating digital tools for migrant communities facing overlapping cognitive, literacy, and cultural barriers to digital inclusion.

Keywords: Human-Centred Design, Digital Inclusion, Assistive Technology, Mobile Application, Migrant Communities, Accessibility, Transferable Design Principles

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008086