"Why is the Doctor a Man?" Reactions of Older Adults to a Virtual Training Doctor

Shared decision making (SDM) is increasingly considered as the best way to reach a treatment decision in a clinical environment. However, the use of SDM in practice can be obstructed by a number of factors, such as time constraints or lack of applicability due to patient characteristics. Our project, PrepDoc, explores how a Virtual Training Doctor (VTD) can help patients overcome some of these obstacles to experiencing effective SDM during doctor's visits. In this paper, we report on user studies conducted with 19 participants in Scotland aged 65+. The goal of these studies was to identify the reactions of this audience to the PrepDoc system, evaluate its suitability within Scotland, and elicit suggestions to improve it. Our findings revealed that the idea of empowering people to participate in SDM using a virtual agent was positively received by all participants. However, the reactions to how this idea was implemented in the PrepDoc system varied greatly across participants. Based on this, our paper outlines recommendations for enhancing the user experience with VTDs, accommodating individual differences of older adults, and accounting for the national context

Research and Innovation for and with Adolescent Young Carers to Influence Policy and Practice—The European Union Funded “ME-WE” Project

Young carers are children and adolescents who provide care to other family members or friends, taking over responsibilities that are usually associated with adulthood. There is emerging but still scarce knowledge worldwide about the phenomenon of young carers and the impact of a caring role on their health, social and personal development spheres. This paper provides an overview of the main results from the ME-WE project, which is the first European research and innovation project dedicated to adolescent young carers (AYCs) (15–17 years). The project methods relied on three main activities: (1) a systematization of knowledge (by means of a survey to AYCs, country case studies, Delphi study, literature review); (2) the co-design, implementation and evaluation of a primary prevention intervention addressing AYCs’ mental health (by means of Blended Learning Networks and a clinical trial in six European countries); (3) the implementation of knowledge translation actions for dissemination, awareness, advocacy and lobbying (by means of national and international stakeholder networks, as well as traditional and new media). Project results substantially contributed to a better understanding of AYCs’ conditions, needs and preferences, defined tailored support intervention (resilient to COVID-19 related restrictions), and significant improvements in national and European policies for AYCs

Quantitative and Qualitative Rating and Ranking Studies for Consolidation of an Application Portfolio for Large Scale Pilots

The ReAAL project intends to deploy a critical mass of Ambient Assisted Living applications and services for ca. 7000 users in seven EU countries, based upon the universAAL platform, previously developed with EC support, with the in-tent of kick-starting the market for interoperable AAL services, applications and devices. ReAAL will facilitate the emergence of an AAL ecosystem by showing the platform usefulness, and spreading the related technical knowledge through an associated community of interest. Here, ReAAL will establish a multi-dimension evaluation methodology to measure the impact of the deployment of the AAL ecosystem in terms of the social, economic and health indicators. Whether health, safety, comfort, social integration or support of mobility - assistance might be needed in any possible aspect of daily life. From an investment point of view, the AAL market should allow individuals in danger of losing in-dependence to pick the set of applications and services of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) over time in conjunction with actual needs, as they arise. Open platforms are supposed to be the enabler for such gradual system evolution and support products and services to become more affordable, future-proof, adaptable, and accessible. The ReAAL project investigates these assumptions via a number of pilots, each with a different focus. If the platform's usefulness can be shown and the related technical knowledge is spread to an associated community of interest, a self-organizing AAL ecosystem will emerge, from which diverse stakeholders will benefit: application and technology vendors, service providers, public authorities and policy makers, sponsors, and the consumer masses, foremost those people who wish to be able to avoid dependency on nursing homes, preferring to continue to live independently in their own homes

Quantitative and Qualitative Rating and Ranking Studies for Consolidation of an Application Portfolio for Large Scale Pilots

The ReAAL project intends to deploy a critical mass of Ambient Assisted Living applications and services for ca. 7000 users in seven EU countries, based upon the universAAL platform, previously developed with EC support, with the in-tent of kick-starting the market for interoperable AAL services, applications and devices. ReAAL will facilitate the emergence of an AAL ecosystem by showing the platform usefulness, and spreading the related technical knowledge through an associated community of interest. Here, ReAAL will establish a multi-dimension evaluation methodology to measure the impact of the deployment of the AAL ecosystem in terms of the social, economic and health indicators. Whether health, safety, comfort, social integration or support of mobility - assistance might be needed in any possible aspect of daily life. From an investment point of view, the AAL market should allow individuals in danger of losing in-dependence to pick the set of applications and services of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) over time in conjunction with actual needs, as they arise. Open platforms are supposed to be the enabler for such gradual system evolution and support products and services to become more affordable, future-proof, adaptable, and accessible. The ReAAL project investigates these assumptions via a number of pilots, each with a different focus. If the platform's usefulness can be shown and the related technical knowledge is spread to an associated community of interest, a self-organizing AAL ecosystem will emerge, from which diverse stakeholders will benefit: application and technology vendors, service providers, public authorities and policy makers, sponsors, and the consumer masses, foremost those people who wish to be able to avoid dependency on nursing homes, preferring to continue to live independently in their own homes

A training simulation for practicing shared decision making for older patients

We describe the design of a product that supports older patients in preparing themselves for a consultation with a health-care professional. The product focuses on shared-decision making, and supports multi-modal interaction. Users can interact with the product through speech, text, and mouse. The product has been designed and evaluated in several co-creation sessions

A training simulation for practicing shared decision making for older patients

We describe the design of a product that supports older patients in preparing themselves for a consultation with a health-care professional. The product focuses on shared-decision making, and supports multi-modal interaction. Users can interact with the product through speech, text, and mouse. The product has been designed and evaluated in several co-creation sessions

Access for all by cognitive engineering

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