Human-Computer Interaction
AI-Driven Technologies to Promote Teamwork & Mental Health
Augmented Reality for Healthcare Workers in High-Stress Situations in the Emergency Room
The Emergency Room (ER) is a high-pressure environment where medical procedures require effective team communication and timely decision-making to ensure high-quality patient care. Research shows that augmented reality head-mounted displays (AR-HMDs) can improve decision-making by reducing cognitive load and enhancing shared mental models primarily in well-controlled healthcare settings such as surgery and operations management. Despite their potential benefits, limited research exists on the design of AR-HMDs for action teams including what, how, and when interfaces with decision-making information can facilitate coordination among teams in ER procedures. To address this gap, we conducted a participatory design study with healthcare workers in a virtual hospital environment to co-create low-fidelity AR-HMD interfaces for role identification, time tracking, and dosage calculation applications.
AI-Driven Virtual Avatars that Promote Mental Health
According to a 2023 report, young adults (ages 18-25) experience anxiety and depression at nearly twice the rate of teenagers. To address this problem, researchers and commercially available products have developed interventions, including artificially intelligent (AI) conversational chatbots and virtual avatars, to reduce mental health issues. Our goal is to effectively engage young adult users long-term through personalized, cognitive behavioral therapy practices outside of therapy sessions in XR environments.