DHB: Collaborative Research: Enhancing Control and Empowerment for the Elderly Through Assistive Technology

“美国即将经历其历史上最大的人口变化。这种变化大部分将在未来30年发生，因为7700万婴儿潮一代不再工作，不再缴纳工资税，而是开始退休，领取福利。”越来越多需要支援以在社区生活的长者，将严重考验现有的服务基础设施。部分答案是开发技术创新，允许敏感和智能的增强，使老年人能够成功地“就地养老”。然而，在鼓励大规模投资研发奇异的新技术之前，了解目标群体的需求是至关重要的。相反，这个问题可以通过整合社会科学、计算机科学的知识和观点，并与潜在的老年技术接受者合作来解决。通过这种方法，社会科学家可以最好地理解这项技术的潜力，检查老年客户在自己的环境中使用它的方式，解决学习过渡到有效使用的问题，并确定为了成功必须克服哪些挑战。技术人员可以提供可重构的实验系统，支持现场测试，以提供可作为动态反馈的经验数据。总之，这些协同活动可以为研究更广泛地向老龄化人口引进技术提供系统。这项建议解决了人们的关切，即那些一直在开发辅助技术的人没有在“基层”充分参与老年人本身或他们的家庭或服务系统。此外，社会科学家和计算机科学家之间的合作很少；然而，社会科学可以挖掘行为的理论基础，并找出那些可能促进和阻碍老年人引入辅助技术的问题。因此，这里提出的跨学科和综合方法对于取得积极成果至关重要。智力优势：该提案汇集了来自史密斯学院的社会科学家和老年社会工作从业人员，以及来自马萨诸塞大学和三菱电气研究实验室（MERL）的计算机科学家，他们在计算机视觉，机器人技术和人机交互方面具有专业知识。本研究将以生态系统的观点，研究如何有效利用电脑技术，提高长者“安享晚年”或独立生活的能力。本研究中研究的许多问题将受到环境老年学长期研究传统的影响，环境老年学研究物理、社会、组织和文化环境对衰老过程和结果的影响。为了协助长者舒适地使用新科技，必须加强他们的能力感和控制感，从而促进赋权；因此，提高老年人的控制感将是技术引进方式的一个关键因素。我们还将研究老年人在掌握新技术方面的独特认知和学习问题，并将参加技术引入所引起的伦理问题。技术人员将提供可重新配置的实验系统，以支持旨在提供有关该技术的经验发现的现场测试。总之，这些协同活动可以提供符合老年人口确切需求和愿望的系统，这些系统最终以仔细进行的研究和试验为基础。更广泛的影响：这里研究和开发的技术创新具有很大的潜力，可以增加认知刺激，减少社会孤立，改善自我护理和提高自我效能感，从而降低抑郁症风险，并显著提高老年人的护理质量。这项研究的结果将指导科学家和工程师将技术引入快速增长和高度脆弱的老年人群体。我们期望这将为大幅降低成本指明道路，同时提高老年人的护理质量。此外，主要研究团队来自一所本科女子学院，该学院有一个培养社会工作者的精英研究生项目。它将使女本科生与博士、城市生活垃圾研究生和教师进行研究接触，并为即将到来的老年护理技术革命做好准备。

Project Summary "The United States is about to experience the greatest demographic change in its history. Most of this change will occur over the next 30 years, as 77 million baby boomers cease to work and pay payroll taxes and instead start to retire and collect benefits." The growing numbers of elderly individuals in need of supports to live in the community will severely test the current services infrastructure. Part of the answer is to develop technological innovations that allow a sensitive and intelligent augmentation to empower an elder population to successfully "age in place." However, it is essential to understand the needs of the target community before encouraging large investments in research leading to exotic, new technologies. Rather, this issue can best be addressed by integrating the knowledge and perspectives of social science, computer science, and in partnership with potential elderly recipients of the technology. Through such an approach, social scientists can best understand the potential of the technology, examine the ways aging clients might use it in their own context, address the learning transition into their effective use, and determine what challenges must be overcome for success. Technologists can provide reconfigurable experimental systems supporting field tests designed to provide empirical data that can be used as dynamic feedback into this analysis. Together,these synergistic activities can provide systems for studying the broader introduction of technology to the aging population. This proposal addresses the concern that those who have been developing assistive technology have not been sufficiently involved at "ground level" with the elders themselves or with their families or service systems. In addition, collaboration between social scientists and computer scientists has been rare; yet, social science can tap into the theoretical foundations of behavior and identify those issues which are likely to facilitate and obstruct the introduction of assistive technology to the elderly. Therefore, an interdisciplinary and integrative approach proposed here is essential to a positive outcome.Intellectual Merit: This proposal brings together social scientists and geriatric social work practitioners from Smith College and computer scientists who have expertise in computer vision, robotics, and human computer interaction from the University of Massachusetts and Mitsubishi Electrical Research Laboratory (MERL). An ecosystemic perspective will be used to study the effective utility of computer based technology for enhancing capacity in the elderly to "age in place" or live independently. Many of the issues examined in this study will be informed by the long-standing research tradition of environmental gerontology which examines the impact of physical, social, organizational and cultural environments on aging processes and outcomes. In order to assist the elderly in engaging comfortably with new technology, it is essential to enhance their sense of agency and control and thus promote empowerment; therefore, enhancing a sense of control for the elderly will be a critical element of the way in which technology is introduced. We will also examine the unique cognitive and learning issues for older adults in mastering new technology and will attend, as well, to the ethical issues raised by the introduction of technology. The technologists will provide reconfigurable experimental systems supporting field tests designed to provide empirical findings with respect to the technology. Together,these synergistic activities can provide systems molded to the precise needs and desires of the aging population - systems that are ultimately based on carefully conducted research and trial.Broader Impact: The technological innovations studied and developed here have great potential to reduce depression risk as a result of increased stimulation of cognition, reduction of social isolation, improvement in self care and greater sense of self efficacy, and to significantly improve the quality of care afforded the elderly. The results of this research will guide scientists and engineers in the introduction of technology to the rapidly growing and highly vulnerable population of elderly. We expect it will point the way to significant cost reduction while increasing the quality of care for senior citizens. Furthermore, the lead research team is from an undergraduate women's college that has an elite graduate program for training social workers. It will bring women undergraduates into research contact with Ph.D. and MSW graduate students and faculty and prepare them for the coming technological revolution in elderly care.