By Shelly Leachman for UCSB
May 24, 2021
| 9:00 a.m.
Much like a family physician who has treated you for years, computer systems could hypothetically know a patient’s complete medical history. A more common experience, of course, is seeing a new doctor or a specialist who knows only your latest lab tests.
But as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health applications grows, health providers are looking for ways to improve patients’ experience with machine doctors. And under some circumstances, machines may have advantages as medical providers, according to UC Santa Barbara’s Joseph B. Walther, distinguished professor in communication and the Mark and Susan Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society.
By Shelly Leachman
Santa Barbara, CA
Much like a family physician who has treated you for years, computer systems could – hypothetically – know a patient’s complete medical history. A more common experience, of course, is seeing a new doctor or a specialist who knows only your latest lab tests.
But as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health applications grows, health providers are looking for ways to improve patients’ experience with machine doctors. And under some circumstances, machines may have advantages as medical providers, according to UC Santa Barbara’s Joseph B. Walther, distinguished professor in communication and the Mark and Susan Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society.
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health applications grows, health providers are looking for ways to improve patients experience with their machine doctors.
Researchers from Penn State and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) found that people may be less likely to take health advice from an AI doctor when the robot knows their name and medical history. On the other hand, patients want to be on a first-name basis with their human doctors.
When the AI doctor used the first name of the patients and referred to their medical history in the conversation, study participants were more likely to consider an AI health chatbot intrusive and also less likely to heed the AI s medical advice, the researchers added. However, they expected human doctors to differentiate them from other patients and were less likely to comply when a human doctor failed to remember their information.
Facebook Can Actually Boost Older Adults’ Well-Being
What older adults actually do on Facebook may be more important to their user experience and well-being than their overall use of the site, according to researchers.
A new study shows older adults experience different levels of competence, relatedness, and autonomy on Facebook based on the types of their activity.
Specifically, older adults who posted more pictures to Facebook felt more competent, which led to significantly higher levels of well-being in general, according to researchers who report their findings in
Commenting more frequently and receiving more responses to posts also called message contingency tended to improve feelings of relatedness and connection with others on Facebook, the researchers say. Further, older adults who customized their profiles gave them more of a sense of autonomy while on the site.
What older adults actually do on Facebook may be more important to their user experience and well-being than their overall use of the site, according to researchers.
A new study shows older adults experience different levels of competence, relatedness, and autonomy on Facebook based on the types of their activity.
Specifically, older adults who posted more pictures to Facebook felt more competent, which led to significantly higher levels of well-being in general, according to researchers who report their findings in
Commenting more frequently and receiving more responses to posts also called message contingency tended to improve feelings of relatedness and connection with others on Facebook, the researchers say. Further, older adults who customized their profiles gave them more of a sense of autonomy while on the site.