Erin K. Chiou

Organizational and technological correlates of nurses' trust in a smart intravenous pump.

The aim of this study was to understand technology and system characteristics that contribute to nurses’ ratings of trust in a smart intravenous pump. Nurses’ trust in new technologies can influence how technologies are used. Trust in technology is defined as a person’s belief that a technology will not fail them. Potential outcomes of trust in technology are appropriate trust, overtrust, distrust, and mistrust. Trust in technology is also related to several use-specific outcomes, including appropriate use and inappropriate use such as overreliance, disuse or rejection, or misuse. Understanding trust in relation to outcomes can contribute to designs that facilitate appropriate trust in new technologies. A survey was completed by 391 nurses a year after the implementation of a new smart intravenous pump. The survey assessed trust in the intravenous pump and other elements of the sociotechnical system, individual characteristics, technology characteristics, and organizational characteristics. Results show that perceptions of usefulness, safety, ease of use, and usability are related to ratings of trust in smart intravenous pumps. Other work systemfactors such as perception of work environment, age, experience, quality of work, and perception of work performance are also related to ratings of trust. Nurses’ trust in smart intravenous pumps is influenced by both characteristics of the technology and the sociotechnical system. Findings from this research have implications for the design of future smart intravenous pumps and health systems. Recommendations for appropriately trustworthy smart intravenous pumps are discussed. Findings also have implications for how trust in health technologies can be measured and conceptualized in complex sociotechnical systems.

Cooperation in Human-Agent Systems to Support Resilience A Microworld Experiment

Objective: This study uses a dyadic approach to understand human-agent cooperation and system resilience. Background: Increasingly capable technology fundamentally changes human-machine relationships. Rather than reliance on or compliance with more or less reliable automation, we investigate interaction strategies with more or less cooperative agents. Method: A joint-task microworld scenario was developed to explore the effects of agent cooperation on participant cooperation and system resilience. To assess the effects of agent cooperation on participant cooperation, 36 people coordinated with a more or less cooperative agent by requesting resources and responding to requests for resources in a dynamic task environment. Another 36 people were recruited to assess effects following a perturbation in their own hospital. Results: Experiment 1 shows people reciprocated the cooperative behaviors of the agents; a low-cooperation agent led to less effective interactions and less resource sharing, whereas a high-cooperation agent led to more effective interactions and greater resource sharing. Experiment 2 shows that an initial fast-tempo perturbation undermined proactive cooperation—people tended to not request resources. However, the initial fast tempo had little effect on reactive cooperation—people tended to accept resource requests according to cooperation level. Conclusion: This study complements the supervisory control perspective of human-automation interaction by considering interdependence and cooperation rather than the more common focus on reliability and reliance. Application: The cooperativeness of automated agents can influence the cooperativeness of human agents. Design and evaluation for resilience in teams involving increasingly autonomous agents should consider the cooperative behaviors of these agents.

Contextual Design of a Motivated Medication Management Device

Many older adults find that they must manage one or more chronic illnesses entailing multiple medication regimens. These regimens can be daunting, with consequences for medication adherence and health outcomes. To promote adherence to medication regimens, we used contextual design to develop paper and digital prototypes of a medication management device. The design focused on enhancing users’ motivation to adhere to medication therapy. Our design process and outcome suggest that contextual design might serve as an effective data-driven method that can account for the less tangible aspects of work activities, such as motivation.

The hfes diversity committee: Challenges and opportunities for involvement

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Diversity Committee met initially in January 2017, and on a regular basis thereafter to assess and improve diversity and inclusion in the society, profession, and discipline. Charged by president Bill Marras in 2016, the Committee replaced the Diversity Task Force established in 1994, and formally became a part of the Society’s Internal Affairs Division. As part of the Committee’s initial outreach, this panel will continue the conversation with society members about diversity and inclusion. Panelists will provide an overview of the Committee’s charter, review historical trends and current status of member diversity, discuss previous successful programming for enhancing diversity and feature perspectives from students and professionals in academia, industry, government/military/aerospace and consulting. Committee members welcome feedback and input from attendees on the above topics, what inclusion and diversity means and how to balance the broader concept of diversity with focused activities for targeted groups.

Beyond Reliance and Compliance: Human-Automation Coordination and Cooperation

Increasingly autonomous machines may lead to issues in human-automation systems that go beyond the typical concerns of reliance and compliance. This study used an interaction-oriented approach that considers interdependence in coordinating and cooperating on a joint task. A shared-resource microworld environment was developed to assess how changes in environmental demands and agent behavior affect cooperation and system performance. Seventy-two participants were recruited to perform a scheduling task that required coordination with a cooperative and a relatively uncooperative automated agent. Cooperative automation enhanced performance because it provided more resources to the person and because the person provided more resources to the automation. Considering interdependence theory and the associated structure, signal, strategy, and sequence of human-automation interaction can guide design for appropriate trust and cooperation.

Trust in Complex Work Systems: A Focus on Information and Communication Technologies

Trust is a multifaceted construct in complex work systems. It affects relationships between individuals, the organizations they work in, and how they use information and communication technologies. Trust mediates the acceptance of information and communication technologies; studying people’s trust and how they trust can thus identify appropriate design features and implementation strategies for technology use in the workplace. This article discusses the types of trust that influence work system outcomes with a focus on information and communication technologies. A model integrating different types of trust is presented, illustrating the interrelationship between trust concepts and how attitudes about information and communication technologies might facilitate or inhibit trust at the interpersonal and organizational levels.

Human-Agent Interactions: Does Accountability Matter in Interactive Control Automation?

In human-automation systems, where high situation awareness is associated with better decision-making, understanding accountability may be crucial to preventing automation complacency. In supervisory control automation, there is some evidence that accountability increases human-automation performance; however, with increasingly intelligent automated agents, human-agent work relationships may resemble more interactive control compared to supervisory control. We investigate the effects of social accountability in a simulated joint task environment and hypothesize that people under an accountability condition would cooperate more with an automated agent than people under a non-accountability condition, in a shared cognitive task. Results from our study support this hypothesis. However, for the accountability group, people’s performance in terms of units processed was lower, and this group also self-reported lower performance and attentional control, with higher frustration. These findings indicate that accountability may slow the decision-making process through added pressure, with some costs to short term efficiency.

Negotiated and reciprocal exchange structures in human-agent cooperation

Abstract In light of increasing automation capability, Social Exchange Theory may help guide the design of automated digital interlocutors in human-agent teaming to enhance joint performance. The effect of two social exchange structures, negotiated exchange and reciprocal exchange, was assessed using a joint scheduling microworld environment. Negotiated exchange was operationalized as a bilateral requesting-and-accepting interaction in the microworld, and reciprocal exchange was operationalized as a unilateral resource-providing interaction in the microworld. Compared to the negotiated exchange structure, the reciprocal exchange structure led to increased resource-sharing by both the participant and agent, and thus higher joint performance in the microworld task. The reciprocal exchange structure thus enhanced performance by reducing communication overhead, facilitating proactive and increased resource-sharing. However, results also suggest participant resource-sharing was more mindless than strategic, and failed to consider agent needs. This study demonstrates a new approach to conceptualizing the social mechanisms of human-automation interaction for enhanced human-agent teaming.

Human-agent interruptions: A systems perspective

Detrimental effects of interruptions have been widely reported in the literature, particularly with laboratory-based studies. However, recent field-based studies suggest interruptions can be beneficial, even vital to maintaining or enhancing system performance. The literature seems to be at critical juncture; how do practitioners reconcile these perspectives? Do we ban interruptions or let them flow freely? To address this, we study how interruptions affect work performance over differing units of analysis (a dyad versus an individual) in a microworld scheduling task with 72 participants and a computer agent. We found that a team performance perspective shows more benefits from interruptions than an individual performance perspective. In other words, teams suffered less from the adverse effects of interruptions than individuals. Results show that systems-level aspects of interruptions, for both the individual and the team, plays a role in determining whether interruptions have a positive or negative effect.