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。这一变化的大部分将发生在未来30年内，因为7700万婴儿潮一代停止工作和支付工资税，而是开始退休和领取福利。“越来越多的老年人需要支持才能在社区生活，这将严重考验目前的服务基础设施。部分答案是开发技术创新，允许敏感和智能的增强功能，使老年人口能够成功地“就地养老”。“然而，在鼓励对导致外来新技术的研究进行大量投资之前，必须了解目标社区的需求。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了解技术的潜力，研究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，并确定成功必须克服的挑战。技术人员可以提供可重构的实验系统，支持现场测试，旨在提供经验数据，可用作此分析的动态反馈。总之，这些协同活动可以为研究向老龄人口更广泛地引进技术提供系统。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”与老年人本人或其家庭或服务系统充分接触。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，并确定那些可能促进和阻碍向老年人引入辅助技术的问题。智力优势：本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者，以及来自马萨诸塞州大学和三菱电机研究实验室（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长。将从生态系统的角度研究如何有效利用计算机技术，提高老年人“就地养老”或独立生活的能力。本研究中研究的许多问题将由环境老年学的长期研究传统提供信息，该传统研究物理，社会，组织和文化环境对衰老过程和结果的影响。为了帮助老年人舒适地接触新技术，必须增强他们的能动性和控制感，从而促进赋权;因此，增强老年人的控制感将是引进技术的一个关键因素。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，并将参加技术引进所提出的伦理问题。技术专家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实证研究结果的现场测试。总之，这些协同活动可以提供符合老龄化人口确切需求和愿望的系统--这些系统最终是基于精心进行的研究和试验。这里研究和开发的技术创新具有降低抑郁风险的巨大潜力，因为它增加了认知刺激，减少了社会孤立，改善了自我照顾和更大的自我效能感，并大大提高老年人护理的质量。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口。我们希望它能为大幅降低成本指明方向，同时提高老年人的护理质量。此外，牵头研究小组来自一所女子大学，该大学有一个培训社会工作者的精英研究生课程。它将使女大学生与博士进行研究接触。和城市固体废物研究生和教师，并为即将到来的老年人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.