Research

Older adults are often faced with making decisions related to the healthcare such as determining which Medicare plan is right for them, whether they should purchase long-term care insurance, or if they should remodel their home to support their changing needs.  Such complex decision making can be supported through information guides, search tools, and advancements in technology such as artificial intelligence (AI).  We are exploring decision-support challenges as well as the potential benefits of various solutions through subject matter expert interviews, structured interviews with older adults, task analysis, human factors evaluation, archival data sets from our partners, and behavioral observations of older adults performing realistic tasks.​ Our aims include understanding the cognitive demands, facilitators, and individual difference predictors of decision-making challenges in healthcare-management activities. We will evaluate, with a diverse sample of older adults including those with mild cognitive impairment and lower socioeconomic status, the usability, acceptability, and efficacy of the digital assistant tools to support these activities.