Name: Charu Chandra
email: charu@ccs.neu.edu
Homework 3
Studying entertainment options in GAP waiting room
Abstract
The idea is to provide health information through games. People, in general, don't like to take lessons/classes. If the same information is provided to them by some simple games, people are more likely to get involved in the same. Especially at an older age, they do not have many options for entertainment. This study explores the possibility of providing health information to older adults in the form of simple, familiar games. In the end, some suggestions and consideration in building this kind of a system is also provided.
Introduction
The study was done in the waiting room of Geriatric Ambulatory Practice at Boston Medical Center. There were only some modes of entertainment in the waiting room. Since the music was playing in the background, all the patients and the receptionist were listening to the music. The speakers were there but a control for changing the music was not available. The other one was the kiosk that provided some entertainment. Patients could walk up to the kiosk and spend some time talking to the relational agent called "Tanya". They could take a quiz as well. There was just one person who used the kiosk in an hour. The person used it for a couple of minutes and was called in by the nurse. He was interacting with Tanya. There were magazines and health handouts but nobody seemed to be interested in them. Some relatives of patient got their own books with them for their own entertainment. One patient was munching some snack while waiting for the doctor. A very few people were chatting with other patients.
Mainly, there are two modes of entertainment, music and the kiosk. Rest of the report talks about these two systems.
Study
The observations were conducted on a Thursday morning 10 - 11 am. There were 6-7 patients on an average. Four people in the waiting room were informally interviewed. One of them was a relative (wife of the patient); rest three were patient of varied age groups. One person refused to be interviewed, as she was feeling sick. When asked how did they find the waiting room, one person said all right; another found it nice. Charles (age 76) said it was good mainly because he never had to wait for more than 5-10 minutes. He pays yearly visit to the doctor. James (age 85) has been coming here for last 11 years and he has to visit the doctor every 3 months. When asked how long is the wait on an average, he said
"about an hour only because I come an hour earlier"
I found his answer funny and giggled a bit but he found it offending and said
"nothing to laugh there, I am serious"
At that point, I changed the topic. Possibly, he doesn't mind spending time in the waiting room. He did not interact with other patients, he only knew the receptionist. On the other hand, some patients like to chat with fellow patients. Marie (age 79) said she found the waiting room nice. She talks to other patients but did not know their names (she is not good with names). Her views about the waiting room were very practical. She said
"I like it here because I am here to be treated"
The waiting time is usually 15-20 minutes for her.
Music
The music was played out of radio that is meant for younger people. Nearly everybody said they would like to listen to something more from their times, something soothing or classical. James said music doesn't matter. He is okay till its not too loud. Everybody agreed on the fact that the music should not be too loud. When asked if they would be interested in using a system where they could change the music, two of the four said, yes.
Kiosk
There were not many people using the kiosk. A part of the study was to identify the reason why people were not using it. Charles said,
"I don't like the idea of a computer talking back to me. It even has a name… whats that… Tanya"
James didn't even know if it existed. Marie doesn't use computers and she has never used the kiosk. She has one at home, her grandson uses it but she doesn't.
Few questions were asked around the idea of putting up games in the kiosk. When asked if they played games or did puzzles, two of them agreed they solved crosswords on a regular basis. Charles also agreed that he would play the games if they only took a short time to solve because his waiting time is around 5-10 minutes. James said yes. Marie said maybe. When asked would they be okay if their picture was put in the kiosk, all except Marie said yes. Marie said she doesn't like her pictures to be taken.
Conclusion
The first task would be to attract people to the kiosk, since many people are hesitant to use it or have never used it. This could be achieved by implementing the system that has the capability of changing the music playing in the waiting room. This will eliminate the strange feeling of talking to a computer and provide a familiar domain. Also, since its just changing the music, it doesn't look like a boring health information session. Once they have changed the music, the kiosk could ask if they are interested in playing games listing a few. These games could be designed in a way where it mixes health information and entertainment. For example, 4-5 word crossword puzzles that doesn't take long to solve. Another game could be "Match the following" where the user has to match one column to other. For example, one column could contain food items and the other column has nutrition and the user has to slide his finger to match one from another.
There are a few ideas around making new friends in clinic and improving personal relationship. Games like "Identify the Person" where the pictures of fellow patients or nurses is given with 3-4 options to choose from. There could be other games like give a personal quality of a person and ask the user to choose from an option of 4 (pictures with names) to choose from. For example, "lady who paints", "Person who has a statue in his garden". A few patients agreed that they do not have difficulty remembering faces but can not remember names. These kind of games will not stress their memory. Also, knowing a personal interesting fact about somebody gives a more attached feeling and these can be starters for interesting conversations. Since in this clinic, most people do not know others well, these games might not interest them. In a clinic where people talk to each other, know their names, these games could work towards help them make new friends and make them feel part of a community.
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