scholarly journals Field evaluation with cognitively-impaired older adults of attention management in the Embodied Conversational Agent Louise

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Wargnier ◽  
Giovanni Carletti ◽  
Yann Laurent-Corniquet ◽  
Samuel Benveniste ◽  
Pierre Jouvelot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Field Evaluation ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Conversational Agent ◽  
Embodied Conversational Agent

scholarly journals User Requirements Analysis of an Embodied Conversational Agent for Coaching Older Adults to Choose Active and Healthy Ageing Behaviors during the Transition to Retirement: A Cross-National User Centered Design Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9681
Author(s):  
Sara Santini ◽  
Vera Stara ◽  
Flavia Galassi ◽  
Alessandra Merizzi ◽  
Cornelia Schneider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
End Users ◽  
Healthy Ageing ◽  
User Requirements ◽  
Conversational Agent ◽  
Embodied Conversational Agent ◽  
Active And Healthy Ageing ◽  
Transition To Retirement

Background: Retirement is recognized as a factor influencing the ageing process. Today, virtual health coaching systems can play a pivotal role in supporting older adults’ active and healthy ageing. This study wants to answer two research questions: (1) What are the user requirements of a virtual coach (VC) based on an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) for motivating older adults in transition to retirement to adopt a healthy lifestyle? (2) How could a VC address the active and healthy ageing dimensions, even during COVID-19 times? Methods: Two-wave focus-groups with 60 end-users aged 55 and over and 27 follow-up telephone interviews were carried out in Austria, Italy and the Netherlands in 2019–2020. Qualitative data were analysed by way of framework analysis. Results: End-users suggest the VC should motivate older workers and retirees to practice physical activity, maintain social contacts and emotional well-being. The ECA should be reactive, customizable, expressive, sympathetic, not directive nor patronizing, with a pleasant and motivating language. The COVID-19 outbreak increased the users’ need for functions boosting community relationships and promoting emotional well-being. Conclusions: the VC can address the active and healthy ageing paradigm by increasing the chances of doing low-cost healthy activities at any time and in any place.

User requirements analysis of an Embodied Conversational Agent for coaching older adults to choose active and healthy ageing behaviors during the transition to retirement: a cross-national User Centered Design study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Santini ◽  
Vera Stara ◽  
Flavia Galassi ◽  
Alessandra Merizzi ◽  
Cornelia Schneider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
End Users ◽  
Healthy Ageing ◽  
Conversational Agent ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Embodied Conversational Agent ◽  
Virtual Coaching ◽  
Active And Healthy Ageing

BACKGROUND The ageing worldwide population involves an increase of multiple chronic diseases and the consequent demand for healthcare services by older people, thus challenging the healthcare systems’ sustainability and older people’s quality of life. In order to postpone older adults’ need for care, the promotion of healthy ageing is a key action that can be favored today by embodied conversational agents. Nevertheless, the role and benefit of this technology is still relatively ignored by the literature, especially when being applied to older workers and new retirees, and from a preventive perspective. OBJECTIVE This study wants to answer two research questions: 1) What are the user requirements of a virtual coaching based on an Embodied Conversational Agent for motivating older adults in transition to retirement to adopt a healthy lifestyle? 2) How could a virtual coaching system address the active and healthy ageing dimensions, especially during COVID-19 times? METHODS To answer the questions above, according to the User Centered Design approach, two-wave cross-national focus-groups with 60 end-users aged 55 and over and follow-up telephone interviews to 27 end-users were carried out in Austria, Italy and the Netherland between Spring 2019 and January 2021. Qualitative data were analysed through the Framework Analysis in order to highlight cross-country commonalities and national peculiarities. RESULTS End-users suggest the virtual coach motivates older workers and retirees to practice physical activity, maintain social contacts and provide them with practical activities to improve their mental and emotional well-being. It can be used every day based on users’ time, mood, family relationships and social condition. The embodied conversational agent should be reactive, customizable, expected to be expressive, sympathetic, not directive nor patronizing and its language should be appropriate, pleasant and motivating. The COVID-19 outbreak accelerated the acceptance of the system by increasing the users’ need for functions that boost community, physical and emotional well-being activities. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that the virtual coaching system can be one of the solutions that can best address the active and healthy ageing dimensions by suggesting activities that can improve individuals’ physical activity, mental well-being and socialisation. especially in the current worldwide epidemiological situation. Nevertheless, to be fully effective, it has to have a pleasant appearance and voice to motivate users without being patronising nor directive. Moreover, it should be customisable, yet non stigmatising, and should be able to adapt to the ageing process and to the evolution of the retirement transition.

EXPRESS: Age-related changes in gaze behavior during social interaction: an eye-tracking study with an embodied conversational agent

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182098216
Author(s):  
Katarina Pavic ◽  
Ali Oker ◽  
Mohamed Chetouani ◽  
Laurence Chaby
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Conversational Agent ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Embodied Conversational Agent ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Gaze Behaviour

Previous research has highlighted age-related differences in social perception, in particular emotional expression processing. To date, such studies have largely focused on approaches that use static emotional stimuli that the participant has to identify passively without the possibility of any interaction. In this study, we propose an interactive virtual environment to better address age-related variations in social and emotional perception. A group of 22 young (18-30 years) and 20 older (60-80 years) adults were engaged in a face-to-face conversation with an embodied conversational agent. Participants were invited to interact naturally with the agent and to identify his facial expression. Their gaze behaviour was captured by an eye-tracking device throughout the interaction. We also explored whether the Big Five personality traits (particularly extraversion) and anxiety modulated gaze during the social interaction. Findings suggested that age-related differences in gaze behaviour was were only apparent when decoding social signals (i.e., listening to a partner's question, identifying facial expressions) and not when communicating social information (i.e. when speaking). Furthermore, higher extraversion levels consistently lead to a shorter amount of time gazing toward the eyes, whereas higher anxiety levels lead to slight modulations of gaze only when participants are were listening to questions. Face-to-face conversation with virtual agents can provide a more naturalistic framework for the assessment of online socio-emotional interaction in older adults, which is not easily observable in classical offline paradigms. This study provides novel and important insights into the specific circumstances in which older adults may experience difficulties in social interactions.

scholarly journals Impact of Pain and Discomfort on the Lives of Cognitively Impaired Older Adults and Their Informal Caregivers

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 786-787
Author(s):  
Hyunjin Noh
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Disease Trajectory ◽  
Care Recipients ◽  
Home Based ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Future Program

Abstract This qualitative study explored the impact of pain and discomfort on the lives of cognitively impaired older adults and their caregivers from the caregiver perspective. Forty-three individuals of age 19+, who identified themselves as primary caregiver to a chronically or seriously ill older adult (age 50+) with cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia, were recruited at various community settings. Individual, face-to-face interviews were conducted to ask participants how they thought their care-recipient’s pain and discomfort affected the care-recipient’s and the caregiver’s life respectively. Inductive, thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed several key themes: compromised mobility, limited social interaction or activities, and depressive symptoms in both care-recipients and caregivers; aggravated cognitive decline in care-recipients; and poorer physical health in caregivers. Participants wanted more information on the disease trajectory and available services, particularly home-based therapies and social activities for care-recipients, which provides future program/practice implications.

Educational intervention to improve palliative care knowledge among informal caregivers of cognitively impaired older adults

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Hyunjin Noh ◽  
Lewis H. Lee ◽  
Chorong Won
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Educational Intervention ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Informal Caregivers ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Seriously Ill

Abstract Objective Lack of palliative care knowledge among caregivers may pose an access barrier for cognitively impaired older adults, who may benefit from the specialized care. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of an educational intervention in improving palliative care knowledge among informal caregivers of cognitively impaired older adults. Method Using a one-group, pre- and post-test intervention design, this study implemented an individual, face-to-face educational intervention with an informational brochure for 43 informal caregivers of chronically or seriously ill older adults (50+) with cognitive impairment, recruited from communities in West Alabama. Their level of knowledge about palliative care was assessed by the Palliative Care Knowledge Scale (PaCKS). The pre- and post-test scores were compared by the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, and the racial subgroup (Whites vs. Blacks) comparison was made by the Mann–Whitney U test. Results There was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores (z = 5.38, p < 0.001), indicating a statistically significant effect of the educational intervention in improving palliative care knowledge among participants. There was a significant difference (U = 143, p < 0.05) between Whites and Blacks in the pre-test, which, however, disappeared in the post-test (U = 173.50, p > 0.05), suggesting that the amount of increased PaCKS scores were significantly greater for Blacks (Mdn = 9.50) than for Whites (Mdn = 4.00, U = 130.50, p < 0.05). Significance of results This study demonstrated that a one-time educational intervention can improve the level of palliative care knowledge among informal caregivers of chronically or seriously ill older adults with cognitive impairment, particularly among Black caregivers. Therefore, further educational efforts can be made to promote palliative care knowledge and reduce racial disparities in palliative care knowledge and its use.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document