Creating a Foundation for the Design of Culturally Informed Consumer Health IT.

摘要

Objective: This dissertation sought to lay a foundation for the design of culturally informed consumer health information technology (IT) by systematically characterizing the design space for the task of health information communication with members of the social network across individuals holding diverse cultural identities. Culturally informed consumer health IT is defined as an electronic technology designed to be used by lay people that is aligned with the constellation of cultural identities that they hold (i.e., their cultural context).;Background: The consumer health informatics and engineering design literatures provide evidence that culturally informed consumer health IT could help address challenges within the health care delivery system; however, both literatures take a limited view of users' cultural context and its integration into technology. A particular opportunity exists in supporting lay people in managing communication of health information to those in their social network, a task that has been documented as burdensome, performed differently across cultures, and minimally supported by existing consumer health IT.;Methods: This interpretative study took a concurrent, mixed methods approach to describe the health information communication work systems of patients holding diverse cultural identities. Eighteen participants who self-identified their cultural identities took part in the study. Approaches grounded in engineering design and cultural anthropology were used to guide method selection.;Results: Participants' health information communication work systems encompassed 12 categories of social network members, spanning relatives, community members, and divinities. Communication modes were both technology-mediated and non-technology-mediated. Reported rationales for health information communication and mode use reflected six themes: 1) person, 2) relationship, 3) third party, 4) message, 5) goals, and 6) context. Participants reported identifying with cultural identities related to ethnicity, experience, nationality, race, religion, and socioeconomic status in 18 ways.;Conclusions: This dissertation provides evidence that existing approaches to conceptualizing cultural context and operationalizing cultural identity within the fields of consumer health informatics and engineering design should be augmented. It further shows that designers must account for a larger design space than is currently addressed to advance the design of consumer health IT to support health information communication with members of the social network.