Why and How to Approach User Experience in Safety-Critical Domains: The Example of Health Care.

OBJECTIVE: To highlight the importance of the personal experience of users who interact with technology in safety-critical domains and summarize three interaction concepts and the associated theories that provide the means for addressing user experience. BACKGROUND: In health care, the dominant concepts of interaction are based on theories arising from classic cognitive psychology. These concepts focus mainly on safety and efficiency, with too little consideration being given to user experience. METHOD: Users in complex socio-technical and safety-critical domains such as health care interact with many technological devices. Enhancing the user experience could improve the design of technology, enhance the well-being of staff, and contribute to modern safety management. We summarize concepts of "interaction" based on modern theories of human-computer interaction, which include the personal experience of users as an important construct. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Activity theory, embodiment, and interaction as experience provide a theoretical foundation for considering user experience in safety-critical domains. Using an example from anesthesiology, we demonstrate how each theory provides a unique but complementary view on experience. Finally, the methodological possibilities for considering personal experience in design and evaluations vary among the theories. APPLICATION: Considering user experience in health care and potentially other safety-critical domains can provide an additional means of optimizing interaction with technology, contributing to the well-being of staff, and improving safety.

Move&Find: The Value of Kinaesthetic Experience in a Casual Data Representation.

The value of a data representation is traditionally judged based on aspects like effectiveness and efficiency that are important in utilitarian or work-related contexts. Most multisensory data representations, however, are employed in casual contexts where creativity, affective, physical, intellectual, and social engagement might be of greater value. We introduce Move&Find, a multisensory data representation in which people pedalled on a bicycle to exert the energy required to power a search query on Google's servers. To evaluate Move&Find, we operationalized a framework suitable to evaluate the value of data representations in casual contexts and experimentally compared Move&Find to a corresponding visualization. With Move&Find, participants achieved a higher understanding of the data. Move&Find was judged to be more creative and encouraged more physical and social engagement-components of value that would have been missed using more traditional evaluation frameworks.

Self-organizing knowledge management might improve the quality of person-centered dementia care: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: In institutional dementia care, person-centered care improves care processes and the quality of life of residents. However, communication gaps impede the implementation of person-centered care in favor of routinized care. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether self-organizing knowledge management reduces communication gaps and improves the quality of person-centered dementia care. METHOD: We implemented a self-organizing knowledge management system. Eight significant others of residents with severe dementia and six professional caregivers used a mobile application for six months. We conducted qualitative interviews and focus groups afterward. MAIN FINDINGS: Participants reported that the system increased the quality of person-centered care, reduced communication gaps, increased the task satisfaction of caregivers and the wellbeing of significant others. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings, we develop the following hypotheses: self-organizing knowledge management might provide a promising tool to improve the quality of person-centered care. It might reduce communication barriers that impede person-centered care. It might allow transferring content-maintaining tasks from caregivers to significant others. Such distribution of tasks, in turn, might be beneficial for both parties. Furthermore, shared knowledge about situational features might guide person-centered interventions.

An Emotional Response to the Value of Visualization.

When assessing the value of visualizations, researchers traditionally focus on efficiency, comprehension, or insight. However, analyzing successful data physicalizations leads to a deep appreciation for hedonic qualities. Informed by the role of emotion in psychology, art, design, marketing, and HCI, we argue for an expanded definition of value, applicable to all forms of data visualization.