Pressures on confidentiality.
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Confidentiality↗
Biomedical subjects
Wendy A Rogers
Publications and source records attributed to Wendy A Rogers.
Older adults' motivated choice for technological innovation: evidence for benefit-driven selectivity.
This study examined older adults' motivation to adopt technological innovation. Sixty-eight older e-mail users and nonusers discussed the use of e-mail and of traditional communication methods in 18 focus groups. The results show older adults' benefit-driven approach to new communication technology. Regardless of whether their decision about the new technology was positive or negative and irrespective of their e-mail experience, participants focused on benefits rather than costs. For traditional media, both costs and benefits were important. Results contradict the common belief that barriers such as usability problems determine whether older people use new technology and indicate the decisive role of perceived benefits for successful innovation.
Aged↗
Factors predicting the use of technology: findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE).
The successful adoption of technology is becoming increasingly important to functional independence. The present article reports findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) on the use of technology among community-dwelling adults. The sample included 1,204 individuals ranging in age from 18-91 years. All participants completed a battery that included measures of demographic characteristics, self-rated health, experience with technology, attitudes toward computers, and component cognitive abilities. Findings indicate that the older adults were less likely than younger adults to use technology in general, computers, and the World Wide Web. The results also indicate that computer anxiety, fluid intelligence, and crystallized intelligence were important predictors of the use of technology. The relationship between age and adoption of technology was mediated by cognitive abilities, computer self-efficacy, and computer anxiety. These findings are discussed in terms of training strategies to promote technology adoption.
Adult↗
Spatial ability subfactors and their influences on a computer-based information search task.
OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the relationship between two distinct subfactors of spatial ability and performance in an information search task modeled on browsing the Web. BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found relationships between various measures of spatial ability and performance in a wide variety of computer-based tasks. METHOD: In the search task 101 participants (18-29 years of age) searched for the answer to a question by navigating the system. They completed the experimental task as well as a battery of cognitive ability measures that included two different measures of spatial ability. RESULTS: The results indicate that spatial orientation ability was related to performance with tasks that were high in their navigational requirement (engendered by the use of a novel aid), whereas spatial visualization was unrelated to performance in any task condition. CONCLUSION: A closer inspection of the cognitive requirements of a task may reveal what interventions could be most useful when designing computer systems or developing training programs. APPLICATION: Given the unique differences between the different spatial abilities, the current results suggest the design of navigational aids that place less demand on spatial orientation ability.
Adolescent↗
Reading in the dark: effects of age and contrast on reading speed and comprehension.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of contrast reduction on younger and older adults' reading behavior and to examine whether readers rely on word predictability to compensate for poor contrast. BACKGROUND: Poor contrast can degrade text and may influence reading behavior. Readers may compensate for visual degradation of text by taking advantage of word predictability. METHOD: In Experiment 1, 5 younger and 5 older adults read sentences presented with 10 levels of contrast. In Experiment 2, 40 younger and 40 older adults read high-, medium-, and low-contrast sentences that varied in target word predictability (high vs. low). RESULTS: Relative to those of younger adults, older adults' reading rates were more slowed by low contrast; comprehension was less influenced by contrast (i.e., not significantly). Older adults read high-predictability words faster and comprehended them better than low-predictability words, significantly so for high- and medium-contrast sentences. Younger adults comprehended high-predictability words significantly better than low-predictability words for high- and low-contrast sentences. CONCLUSION: Low contrast was more detrimental for older adults. High-predictability words benefited older adults by significantly reducing their reading times and benefited all readers by significantly increasing their comprehension. APPLICATION: The current findings demonstrate the benefit of adequate contrast and word predictability for optimal text design to facilitate both reading times and reading comprehension.
Adult↗
Web-based information search and retrieval: effects of strategy use and age on search success.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between strategy use and search success on the World Wide Web (i.e., the Web) for experienced Web users. An additional goal was to extend understanding of how the age of the searcher may influence strategy use. BACKGROUND: Current investigations of information search and retrieval on the Web have provided an incomplete picture of Web strategy use because participants have not been given the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of Web strategies while also searching for information on the Web. METHODS: Using both behavioral and knowledge-engineering methods, we investigated searching behavior and system knowledge for 16 younger adults (M = 20.88 years of age) and 16 older adults (M = 67.88 years). RESULTS: Older adults were less successful than younger adults in finding correct answers to the search tasks. Knowledge engineering revealed that the age-related effect resulted from ineffective search strategies and amount of Web experience rather than age per se. Our analysis led to the development of a decision-action diagram representing search behavior for both age groups. CONCLUSION: Older adults had more difficulty than younger adults when searching for information on the Web. However, this difficulty was related to the selection of inefficient search strategies, which may have been attributable to a lack of knowledge about available Web search strategies. APPLICATION: Actual or potential applications of this research include training Web users to search more effectively and suggestions to improve the design of search engines.
Adult↗
Whistle-blowing in the medical curriculum: a response to Faunce.
We agree with Faunce's proposal that academic legitimacy is important in ensuring that whistle-blowing is included in medical curricula. We disagree, however, with the assertion that this is best achieved by means of an over-arching theoretical foundation for health care whistle-blowing of the kind suggested by Faunce. We propose that systematic theoretical justification is neither the sole nor the main determinant of academic legitimacy when it comes to matters for inclusion in medical school curricula, and outline an alternative view, together with a practical example of a healthcare whistle-blowing topic.
Curriculum↗
Comprehending product warning information: age-related effects and the roles of memory, inferencing, and knowledge.
Two experiments were conducted to determine if age affects comprehension for explicit and implied warning information and, if so, to reveal the nature of such effects. Experiment 1 measured younger (18-23 years) and older (65-75 years) adults' comprehension for real-world warnings via a verification test presented immediately after reading the warnings or after a delay. In Experiment 2, younger (18-22 years) and older (64-76 years) participants also read fabricated warnings that were inconsistent with real-world knowledge. In both experiments, older adults frequently failed to infer the correct hazard and safety information. The older adults also had trouble understanding warning information even when it was explicitly stated (when no inferences were required), especially when memory demands were high and product-specific knowledge could not be used. That many of the older adults did not understand commonly used product warnings indicates that the wording on many household products is not conducive to being understood by everyone who uses them. Actual or potential applications of this research include the recommendation that designers of product labels, warnings, and instructions should consider minimizing memory load and maximizing opportunities for knowledge application when designing consumer warnings.
Adolescent↗
Touch a screen or turn a knob: choosing the best device for the job.
Input devices enable users to interact with systems. In two experiments, we assessed whether and how task demands and user age influenced task performance for a direct input device (touch screen) and an indirect input device (rotary encoder). In Experiment 1, 40 younger (18-28 years) and 40 middle-aged to older adults (51-65 years) performed tasks using controls such as sliders, up/down buttons, list boxes, and text boxes while using a system. The optimal input device to facilitate performance was dependent on the task being performed and the age of the user. In Experiment 2, touch screen use was assessed for 20 younger (19-23 years) and 20 older adults (51-70 years). Task demands were manipulated through button size, movement distance, direction, and type of movement. Performance was moderated by the age of the user and by task demands. Actual or potential applications of this research include guidance for the optimal selection of input devices for different user populations and task characteristics.
Adolescent↗
The ethics of pharmaceutical industry relationships with medical students.
Little research has been done on the extent of the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and medical students, and the effect on students of receiving gifts. Potential harms to patients are documented elsewhere; we focus on potential harms to students. Students who receive gifts may believe that they are receiving something for nothing, contributing to a sense of entitlement that is not in the best interests of their moral development as doctors. Alternatively, students may be subject to recognised or unrecognised reciprocal obligations that potentially influence their decision making. Medical educators have a duty of care to protect students from influence by pharmaceutical companies.
Conflict of Interest↗
Virtue ethics and public health: a practice-based analysis.
Public health plays an important, albeit often unnoticed, role in protecting and promoting the health of populations. The activities of public health are complex, performed by multiple professionals, and range from the innocuous to the intrusive. Ethical analyses in public health reflect some of this complexity and fragmentation, with no one approach able to capture the full range of ethical considerations raised by public health activities. There are however, good reasons why we should pursue such analyses. Providing a robust ethical framework for public health may promote the identity and function of public health, address some of the shortcomings of utilitarianism, and help to combat the threat that public health faces through lack of political will in many parts of the world. In this paper I argue that Alasdair MacIntyre's account of practices and virtues can make a valuable contribution to public health ethics. The first part of the paper argues that public health may properly be described as the type of practice that provides an arena for the exercise of virtues. This is followed by an analysis of the three virtues of honesty, courage and justice in public health practice. Using virtue theory captures morally important elements of public health and helps to maintain awareness of significant moral values in the practice of public health. Such awareness is crucial in maintaining and defending the integrity of public health.
Ethical Analysis↗
Hazards in the home: using older adults' perceptions to inform warning design.
Older adults' perceptions of hazards associated with home product usage and beliefs about product warnings were assessed. Focus group interview data were coded along the dimensions of (a) product type; (b) hazard type; (c) hazard knowledge; (d) hazard avoidance; (e) product warning presence; and (f) product warning necessity. A survey supplemented the focus group results by gathering measures of usage patterns and usability difficulties associated with various types of household products. Older adults reported routine use of products they considered to be hazardous and identified an array of home safety concerns. Furthermore, personal experience was an important source of older adults' hazard knowledge and they described a number of hazard avoidance strategies. These data provide insight into older adults' home safety behaviour and suggest a number of approaches to improving hazard communication and warning design.
Aged↗
Age-related glucometer design and selection: tools and principles for optimal solutions.
Special attention must be given to glucometer design, selection, and training for older adults with diabetes. The field of human factors provides insight into the special needs of older adults along with principles of design and instruction to apply to current and future glucometer systems. Necessary tools for designers and physicians include person analysis, user testing, and adherence to best practice guidelines. It is important to note that as glucometer systems change, new usability problems may arise as prior issues are resolved. However, some problems may be avoided prior to system production by using the theoretical background and guidelines provided by human factors specialists.
Aged↗
Safety symbol comprehension: effects of symbol type, familiarity, and age.
A new procedure for evaluating symbol comprehension, the phrase generation procedure, was assessed with 52 younger and 52 older adults. Participants generated as many phrases as came to mind when viewing 40 different safety symbols (hazard alerting, mandatory action, prohibition, and information symbols). Symbol familiarity was also assessed. Comprehension rates for both groups were lower than the 85% level recommended by the American National Standards Institute. Moreover, older participants' comprehension was significantly worse than younger participants', and the older adults also generated significantly fewer phrases. Generally, prohibition symbols were comprehended best and hazard alerting symbols worst. In addition, symbol familiarity was positively correlated with symbol comprehension. These findings indicate that important safety information depicted on signs and household products may be misunderstood if presented in symbolic form. Furthermore, certain types of symbols may be better understood (e.g., prohibition symbols) than other types (e.g., hazard alerting symbols) by both younger and older individuals. These findings signify the utility of the phrase generation procedure as a method for evaluating symbol comprehension, particularly when it is not possible or desirable to provide contextual information. Actual or potential applications of this research include using the phrase generation approach to identify poorly comprehended symbols, including identification of critical confusions that may arise when processing symbolic information.
Adult↗
Is there a tension between doctors' duty of care and evidence-based medicine?
The interaction between evidence-based medicine and doctors' duty of care to patients is complex. One the one hand, there is surely an obligation to take account of the best available evidence when offering health care to patients. On the other hand, it is equally important to be aware of important shortcomings in the processes and practices of evidence-based medicine. There are tensions between the population focus of evidence-based medicine and the duties that doctors have to individual patients. Implementing evidence-based medicine may have unpredictable consequences upon the overall quality of health care. Patients may have a range of reasons for preferring one form of treatment over another, not all of which are captured by current formulations of evidence. This paper examines these issues, using relevant examples from evidence-based medicine.
Conflict of Interest↗
A medication screening tool for cognitive aging researchers.
A Web-based medication screening tool that provides researchers with information about side effects associated with medications commonly used by older participants is described. This tool can be used for research purposes to better separate the effects of normal, healthy aging processes from the deleterious effects often associated with medication usage. Researchers can use this tool, called SMART (Screening Medications: Aging Research Taxonomy), to (a) obtain information pertaining to the cognitive, sensory, and motor side effects associated with specific medications and (b) screen medications in their research for side effect severity. The Web address for the tool is www.psychology.gatech.edu/SMART
Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗
Evidence-based medicine in practice: limiting or facilitating patient choice?
Facilitating patient choice is an important element in respecting the autonomy of patients. Evidence-based medicine has the potential to contribute to this process by the provision of high quality research-based information, for use by patients and clinicians. In this paper, I analyse the processes of evidence-based medicine in order to identify the ways in which patient choice is affected by decisions made in the development and use of evidence-based guidelines. I argue that despite the potential contribution, the current methods and techniques of guideline production limit rather than facilitate patient choice.
Choice Behavior↗
Whose autonomy? Which choice? A study of GPs' attitudes towards patient autonomy in the management of low back pain.
BACKGROUND: Respect for patient autonomy is an important ethical principle for medical practitioners; however, previous investigators have reported inconsistent attitudes amongst practitioners towards respect for patient autonomy. This study in empirical ethics used qualitative methods to investigate GPs' attitudes towards respect for patient autonomy in consultations for low back pain. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore GPs' attitudes towards respect for patient autonomy by analysing attitudes towards four issues in the management of low back pain which raise ethical and practical dilemmas. METHODS: Participants were 21 GPs selected from general practice in South Australia by stratified, purposive sampling aimed at maximizing diversity. Semi-structured interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed using codes developed from the transcripts, with additional theoretical codes. In the analysis, attitudes towards patient autonomy in the four issues were characterized as autonomy-respecting, intermediate or controlling. RESULTS: The results showed individual inconsistencies in GPs' attitudes towards respect for patient autonomy. For example, the majority of GPs accepted patient autonomy in the use of complementary therapies, but were controlling with regard to the use of analgesics. Attitudes to duration of time off work were spread evenly, whilst controlling attitudes towards use of X-rays were modified by patient requests for X-rays. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that GP attitudes towards patient autonomy are modified by ethical and pragmatic factors, and vary depending upon the nature of the issue in question.
Adult↗