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

项目摘要：美国即将经历其历史上最大的人口结构变化。这种变化大部分将发生在未来30年，因为7700万婴儿潮一代将停止工作，支付工资税，转而开始退休并领取福利。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，使老年人口能够成功地“就地老龄化”。然而，在鼓励对导致外来新技术的研究进行大规模投资之前，了解目标社区的需求是至关重要的。相反，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，可以最好地解决这个问题。通过这种方法，社会科学家可以最好地了解这项技术的潜力，检查老年客户在自己的环境中可能使用它的方式，解决从学习过渡到有效使用的问题，并确定必须克服哪些挑战才能成功。技术专家可以提供可重新配置的实验系统，支持现场测试，以提供可用作此分析的动态反馈的经验数据。总而言之，这些协同活动可以为研究更广泛地将技术引入老龄化人口提供系统。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”与老年人本人或与他们的家人或服务系统充分参与。此外，社会科学家和计算机科学家之间的合作一直很少见；然而，社会科学可以挖掘行为的理论基础，找出那些可能促进和阻碍向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的方法对于积极的结果是至关重要的。智力优势：这项提议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，以及来自马萨诸塞大学和三菱电气研究实验室(MERL)的在计算机视觉、机器人和人机交互方面拥有专业知识的计算机科学家。将从生态系统的角度研究以计算机为基础的技术的有效利用，以提高老年人“就地养老”或独立生活的能力。这项研究中审查的许多问题将从环境老年学的长期研究传统中获得信息，该研究传统研究物质、社会、组织和文化环境对老龄化过程和结果的影响。为了帮助老年人舒适地接触新技术，必须增强他们的代理感和控制感，从而促进赋权；因此，增强老年人的控制感将是引入技术的方式的关键要素。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，并将关注引入技术所带来的伦理问题。技术专家将提供可重新配置的实验系统，支持现场测试，旨在提供与该技术有关的经验发现。总而言之，这些协同活动可以提供符合老龄化人口精确需求和愿望的系统-最终基于仔细进行的研究和试验的系统。广泛影响：这里研究和开发的技术创新具有巨大的潜力，可以降低抑郁风险，因为它增加了认知刺激，减少了社会隔离，改善了自我护理，提高了自我效能感，并显著提高了为老年人提供的护理质量。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口。我们预计，这将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，牵头的研究团队来自一所本科女子学院，该学院有培训社会工作者的精英研究生课程。它将使女性本科生与博士和MSW研究生和教职员工进行研究接触，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.