Presentation
DH18 - Techniques and Strategies to Understand and Reduce Age Bias in Healthcare Delivery and Technology Design
SessionPoster Session 1
DescriptionOlder adults’ experiences of age bias – general assumptions about cognitive and functional ability, general health, beliefs, and motivations based on age – have been shown to influence every phase of health care experience. Age biases are perpetuated in sociotechnical systems that are either designed without considering, or based on inaccurate stereotypes of, older adult populations. As a result, when interfacing with health care services and health technologies, older adults may feel excluded, incapable, misunderstood, or unseen, with implications for health outcomes through the following pathways. First, the anticipation of negative experiences can result in avoidance or delay of health care seeking. Second, implicit age bias can shape how professionals interact with and respond to older patients, with implications for treatment adherence and response. Finally, the experience of age bias can reinforce negative perceptions of one’s own aging and amplify emotional and physiological reactivity to stressors.
Although older adults are the most diverse demographic in terms of their needs, abilities, and goals, opportunities are sparce within the context of health care delivery and technology design to dynamically assess and accommodate their broad range of (dis)abilities. The goal of this panel is to bring together scientists and HF/E practitioners with relevant expertise on this topic to lead a discussion on techniques and practices to understand and address implicit age bias within health care delivery and technology design. The session will begin with panelists briefly sharing their insights to provide a common understanding for an informed discussion. As moderator, Mejia will begin with a brief overview of implicit age bias and its implications for the uptake, experiences, and response to health care services. Rogers will provide crucial insight on the diversity of older adult populations and their needs. Wooldridge will speak to pervasiveness of bias within sociotechnical system design – rather than only existing as something that a professional or other persons act out – and the implications of these structural biases on the health-related work that older adults engage in. Hale will introduce general problems for design teams and the importance of empathy building. Mahajan will speak to the value of immersive participatory design. Finally, Rutter and Reynolds will introduce strategies to recognize and address age bias in patient and user experience services. Mejia will then facilitate a discussion with the audience to explore their experiences, challenges, and solutions for techniques and strategies to understand and reduce age bias in healthcare delivery and technology design.
Although older adults are the most diverse demographic in terms of their needs, abilities, and goals, opportunities are sparce within the context of health care delivery and technology design to dynamically assess and accommodate their broad range of (dis)abilities. The goal of this panel is to bring together scientists and HF/E practitioners with relevant expertise on this topic to lead a discussion on techniques and practices to understand and address implicit age bias within health care delivery and technology design. The session will begin with panelists briefly sharing their insights to provide a common understanding for an informed discussion. As moderator, Mejia will begin with a brief overview of implicit age bias and its implications for the uptake, experiences, and response to health care services. Rogers will provide crucial insight on the diversity of older adult populations and their needs. Wooldridge will speak to pervasiveness of bias within sociotechnical system design – rather than only existing as something that a professional or other persons act out – and the implications of these structural biases on the health-related work that older adults engage in. Hale will introduce general problems for design teams and the importance of empathy building. Mahajan will speak to the value of immersive participatory design. Finally, Rutter and Reynolds will introduce strategies to recognize and address age bias in patient and user experience services. Mejia will then facilitate a discussion with the audience to explore their experiences, challenges, and solutions for techniques and strategies to understand and reduce age bias in healthcare delivery and technology design.
Authors
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeMonday, March 314:45pm - 6:15pm EDT
LocationFrontenac Foyer
Digital Health (DH)
Simulation and Education (SE)
Hospital Environments (HE)
Medical and Drug Delivery Devices (MDD)
Patient Safety and Research Initiatives (PS)