Exploring the Impact of Technology and Human-Computer Interaction in Healthcare Screenings

Technology is connected to just about every phase of our life, and is having clear effects on our attention and mental health. I love observing how people interact with machines, seeing how it differs from how they interact with other people, and pondering how those differences can be put to service in improving their well-being. 

This fascination started early in my previous work doing health screenings for the prevention of childhood obesity. The insights gained from these experiences have been invaluable in understanding the nuances of human-machine interaction. Note that I am not a psychologist, just an engineer with a keen interest.

Lessons from Health Screenings

In our health screenings, we were collecting dietary information from teenagers using an electronic interview on a touchscreen, then printing a report and doing some counseling. One of the questions in the interview asked how much soda the teen drank each day.

At one community event, a teen reported drinking 48oz of soda a day, which is equivalent to four cans a day. A nurse practitioner who was helping us counsel at the event remarked that, had the teen been asked the question in a normal clinical encounter, she probably would have said, “Oh, not much…. I don’t drink much soda.”

By using the electronic interview, we were getting better information, which let the nurse give better guidance. Note that I’m not claiming the adolescent was being totally honest with the machine, but I am quite confident they were being more honest than they would have been if asked by the nurse.

The Psychology Behind Honesty

The situation builds upon several natural human impulses - the desire to please, and the desire not to be judged. The teen knows that in a clinical setting, the nurse wants the teen to drink less soda. So they answer with that in mind.

But, for some reason, the touchscreen does not present the same issues, despite the teen knowing that any information they put into the electronic interview will end up with the nurse.

Soon after, we also began screening for Post Partum Depression using the Edinburgh survey. The last question on that interview asks if the mother has recently thought about harming herself or her baby. Is a mother more likely to be honest to an electronic interview or to a person for this question?

I am not sure, but I suspect - and many mothers I know have told me - that they would feel less judged by the electronic interview. The only exception was if they had a very good and honest relationship with the interviewer.

From Observations to Innovations

This sense of reduced judgement is just one aspect of how we interact with machines. Our interactions will vary greatly depending on age, tech familiarity, and many other factors. Taking these kinds of factors into consideration when designing AI - and technology in general - for healthcare applications is going to change the world. 

So how can we use the differences in how we react to technology in order to improve our well-being? I am going to force you to think (for at least a moment), by putting my ideas into the next post…