Automated Promotion of Technology Acceptance by Clinicians Using Relational Agents

Abstract. Professionals are often resistant to the introduction of technology and can feel threatened if they perceive the technology as replacing some aspect of their jobs. We anticipated some of these problems in the process of introducing a bedside patient education system to a hospital, especially given that the system presents itself as a “virtual discharge nurse ” in which an animated nurse agent interacts with patients using simulated face-to-face conversation. To increase acceptance by nursing staff we created a version of the character designed to build trust and rapport through a personalized conversation with them. In a randomized trial, we compared responses after 15 minute in-service briefings on the technology versus responses to the same briefings plus a personalized conversation with the agent. We found that the nurses who participated in briefings that included the personalized conversation had significantly greater acceptance of and lower feelings of being threatened by the agent

Socially Assistive Robot Exercise Coach: Motivating Older Adults to Engage in Physical Exercise

Abstract We present the design, implementation, and user study evaluation of a socially assistive robot system designed to engage elderly users in physical exercise aimed at achieving health benefits and improving quality of life. We discuss our design methodology, which incorporates insights from psychology research in the area of intrinsic motivation, and focuses on maintaining engagement through personalized social interaction. We describe two user studies conducted to test our design principles in practice with our system. The first study investigated the role of praise and relational discourse in the exercise system by comparing a relational robot coach to a non-relational robot coach. The second study compared physical vs. virtual embodiment in the task scenario. The two studies evaluate the feasibility and overall effectiveness of the robot exercise system.

Limited health literacy and decline in executive function in older adults.

Limited health literacy is associated with worse executive function, but the association between limited health literacy and decline in executive function has not been established because of a lack of longitudinal studies. The authors aimed to examine this association by studying a prospective cohort in the setting of a randomized controlled trial to promote walking in older adults. Participants were community-dwelling older adults (65 years of age or older) who scored 2 or more on the Mini-Cog, without depression (score of less than 15 on the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire), and who completed baseline and 12-month evaluations (n = 226). Health literacy was measured using the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults. Executive function measured at baseline and 12 months using the Trail Making Test (TMT), Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Category Fluency. The associations between health literacy and 12-month decline in each test of executive function were modeled using multivariate linear regression. Health literacy was found to be limited in 37% of participants. Limited health literacy was associated with reduced performance on all 3 executive function tests. In fully adjusted models, limited health literacy was associated with greater 12-month decline in performance on the TMT than higher health literacy (p = .01). In conclusion, older adults with limited health literacy are at risk for more rapid decline in scores on the TMT, a measure of executive function

Should Agents Speak Like, um, Humans? The Use of Conversational Fillers by Virtual Agents

Abstract. We describe the design and evaluation of an agent that uses the fillers um and uh in its speech. We describe an empirical study of human-human dialogue, analyzing gaze behavior during the production of fillers and use this data to develop a model of agent-based gaze behavior. We find that speakers are significantly more likely to gaze away from their dialogue partner while uttering fillers, especially if the filler occurs at the beginning of a speaking turn. This model is evaluated in a preliminary experiment. Results indicate mixed attitudes towards an agent that uses conversational fillers in its speech