research-article

Virtual assistive companions for older adults: qualitative field study and design implications

Authors:

Christiana Tsiourti,

Maher Ben Moussa,

Katarzyna WacAuthors Info & Claims

PervasiveHealth '14: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

Pages 57 - 64

https://doi.org/10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2014.254943

Published: 20 May 2014 Publication History

Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative study conducted to explore perceptions, attitudes and expectations for a virtual assistive companion designed to supplement human caregiving and facilitate an improved quality of life and long-term health benefits for older adults. The study was conducted adopting a human-centred approach; employing focus groups and individual interviews with older adults, professional caregivers and psychologists specialized in the aging process. Results indicated that users were in favour of a virtual companion and highlighted its potential to assist the accomplishment of daily activities and make more efficient use of human care services. Humanlike communication and behaviour were desirable whereas mixed opinions were expressed about humanlike appearance. The ramifications of the study are discussed in the form of design implications for the development of a virtual assistive companion that possesses the appropriate "social skills" to establish and maintain comfortable and acceptable long-term interaction and offers "useful" support to older adults.

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Cited By

Ahmmed AButts ENaeiji KThiamwong LAncis JDaher S(2024)Aware Intelligent Virtual Agent's Effect on Social Presence and Empathy of CaregiversProceedings of the 24th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3652988.3673951(1-5)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3652988.3673951
Wong NJeong SReddy MStamatis CLattie EJacobs M(2024)Voice Assistants for Mental Health Services: Designing Dialogues with Homebound Older AdultsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661536(844-858)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
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Aumüller AWinklbauer ASchreibmaier BBatinic BMara M(2024)Rethinking feminized service bots: user responses to abstract and gender-ambiguous chatbot avatars in a large-scale interaction studyPersonal and Ubiquitous Computing10.1007/s00779-024-01830-828:6(1021-1032)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2024
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Index Terms

Virtual assistive companions for older adults: qualitative field study and design implications
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Computer graphics
    1. Graphics systems and interfaces
      1. Virtual reality
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction paradigms
      1. Mixed / augmented reality
      2. Virtual reality
  2. Interaction design
    1. Interaction design process and methods
      1. User centered design

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

PervasiveHealth '14: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

May 2014

459 pages

ISBN:9781631900112

General Chair:
Andreas Hein
OFFIS-Institute for IT, Oldenburg, Germany
,
Program Chairs:
Susanne Boll
OFFIS-Institute for IT, Oldenburg, Germany
,
Friedrich Köhler
Charité, Berlin, Germany

In-Cooperation

SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

Publisher

ICST (Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering)

Brussels, Belgium

Publication History

Published: 20 May 2014

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PervasiveHealth '14

PervasiveHealth '14: 8th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

May 20 - 23, 2014

Oldenburg, Germany

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Overall Acceptance Rate 55 of 116 submissions, 47%

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Cited By

Ahmmed AButts ENaeiji KThiamwong LAncis JDaher S(2024)Aware Intelligent Virtual Agent's Effect on Social Presence and Empathy of CaregiversProceedings of the 24th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3652988.3673951(1-5)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3652988.3673951
Wong NJeong SReddy MStamatis CLattie EJacobs M(2024)Voice Assistants for Mental Health Services: Designing Dialogues with Homebound Older AdultsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661536(844-858)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661536
Aumüller AWinklbauer ASchreibmaier BBatinic BMara M(2024)Rethinking feminized service bots: user responses to abstract and gender-ambiguous chatbot avatars in a large-scale interaction studyPersonal and Ubiquitous Computing10.1007/s00779-024-01830-828:6(1021-1032)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00779-024-01830-8
Jin TWang YZhang W(2023)Exploring Older People's Preferences in the Design Features of Virtual Agents: A Comprehensive AnalysisProceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium of Chinese CHI10.1145/3629606.3629624(182-196)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2023
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Desai SChin J(2023)OK Google, Let's Learn: Using Voice User Interfaces for Informal Self-Regulated Learning of Health Topics among Younger and Older AdultsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581507(1-21)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Koda TTsuji STakase M(2022)Measuring Subconscious Gender Biases against Male and Female Virtual Agents in JapanProceedings of the 10th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction10.1145/3527188.3563909(275-277)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2022
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Harrington CMartin-Hammond ABray K(2022)Examining Identity as a Variable of Health Technology Research for Older Adults: A Systematic ReviewProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517621(1-24)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
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