EAGER: Assessment of Barriers to Trusting Computer-Based Home Assistance

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Computer instrumentation of living environments promises to extend the independent life span of our aging populations. This technological potential will not be realized unless people are willing to trust their lives to such support systems, as a replacement for human support. Very little is known about how and why people make these important decisions. The proposed research will study this issue using a widely adopted, computer-dependent life-saving device, the Implantable Cardiac Device (ICD). This research will provide a foundation for understanding how and why people agree to place their life in the hands of computerized equipment that they cannot fully understand or control. The study will design and validate instruments for gathering data on this decision. The study will use in-depth interviews, and survey methods, and will gather data from persons who have accepted or refused implantable defibrillators. Phase I, will be an interview study, working through cardiologists, to reach their patients. Phase II will develop, an extensible Web-based survey that can be readily adapted to other patient populations and other technologies. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in the research plan. In addition, there are a number of broader impacts. First, this research will enhance our understanding of the key factors in the decision to entrust one?s life to a complex computer whose workings are not understood. It will also add to the meager collection of instruments for collecting this kind of data. Second, the information gained about the decision to accept implant will be new, and can serve as a guide in the design of patient information material. Third, the information will guide the design of patient information for ?pervasive computing home environments? and will therefore be useful to scientists and engineers as they consider what will be the most useful features of any proposed design.