Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement

FSU CREATE lab members:

Jake Miller, Mike Tuffiash, Neil Charness, Ryan Yordon, Tres Roring, Mark Fox

The CREATE project at FSU has three components: Workstation Ergonomics, Stress and Technology Use, and E-health intervention

In the first project, we conduct field studies of current computer workstation technology. Workstation configurations used by younger and older adults in the work place and in home offices (for telework) are surveyed and evaluated. Based on existing design guidelines we provide feedback to users about ways to improve their configuration and we also assess barriers to adopting and implementing changes that would improve workstation functionality. Laboratory studies of visual, auditory, and ergonomic features of workstations will also be conducted to identify optimal configurations for older users. This combination of field and lab-based studies should lead to improved, age-sensitive workstation design guidelines. The second project concerns understanding how short-term stress may impact performance of older adults when they first confront new technology. Experimental studies are being used to develop both measurement tools for assessing stress as well as interventions such as short-term stress inoculation and redesign of interfaces to circumvent negative stress reactions. The third project will use the data generated from the first two lines of research to design and implement a health care intervention that substitutes some tele-health (videoconference) nurse and adult caregiver visits for in-person visits with older adults who are being treated for chronic health problems. This project should enable us to evaluate how a carefully designed workstation configured for videoconferencing can contribute to the health and well being of caregivers, patients, and health care providers.

To learn more about CREATE and access reprints and preprints from our research see: http://www.create-center.org

Last update: 2/13/08