Nurses frequently transfer patients as part of their daily work. However, manual patient transfers pose a major risk to nurses’ health. Although the Kinaesthetics care conception can help address this issue, existing support to learn the concept is low. We present KiTT, a tablet-based system, to promote the learning of ergonomic patient transfers based on the Kinaesthetics care conception. KiTT supports the training of Kinaesthetics-based patient transfers by two nurses. The nurses are guided by the phases (i) interactive instructions, (ii) training of transfer conduct, and (iii) feedback and reflection. We evaluated KiTT with 26 nursing-care students in a nursing-care school. Our results indicate that KiTT provides a good subjective support for the learning of Kinaesthetics. Our results also suggest that KiTT can promote the ergonomically correct conduct of patient transfers while providing a good user experience adequate to the nursing-school context, and reveal how KiTT can extend existing practices.

Nurses are frequently required to transfer patients as part of their daily duties. However, the manual transfer of patients is a major risk factor for injuries to the back. Although the Kinaesthetics Care Conception can help to address this issue, existing support for the integration of the concept into nursing-care practice is low. We present NurseCare, a mobile system that aims to promote the practical application of ergonomic patient transfers based on the Kinaesthetics Care Conception. NurseCare consists of a wearable and a smartphone app. Key features of NurseCare include mobile accessible instructions for ergonomic patient transfers, in-situ feedback for the risky bending of the back, and long-term feedback. We evaluated NurseCare in a nine participant 'in-the-wild' evaluation. Results indicate that NurseCare can facilitate ergonomic work while providing a high user experience adequate to the nurses' work domain, and reveal how NurseCare can be incorporated in given practices.

Cross-device interaction with tablets is a popular topic in HCI research. Recent work has shown the benefits of including multiple devices into users' workflows while various interaction techniques allow transferring content across devices. However, users are only reluctantly using multiple devices in combination. At the same time, research on cross-device interaction struggles to find a frame of reference to compare techniques or systems. In this paper, we try to address these challenges by studying the interplay of interaction techniques, device utilization, and task-specific activities in a user study with 24 participants from different but complementary angles of evaluation using an abstract task, a sensemaking task, and three interaction techniques. We found that different interaction techniques have a lower influence than expected, that work behaviors and device utilization depend on the task at hand, and that participants value specific aspects of cross-device interaction.

Mid-air arm movements are important for various activities. However, common resources for their self-directed practice require practitioners to divide their focus between an external source (e.g., a video screen) and moving. Past research found benefits for egocentric guidance visualizations compared to common resources. However, there is limited evidence about how such visualizations should look and behave. EGuide supports the investigation of different egocentric visualizations for the guidance of mid-air arm movements. We compared two visual appearances for egocentric guidance visualizations that differ in their shape (look), and three guidance techniques that differ by how they guide a user (behavior). For visualizations with a continuously moving guidance technique, our results suggest a higher movement accuracy for a realistic than an abstract shape. For user experience and preference, our results suggest that visualizations with an abstract shape and a guidance technique that visualizes important postures should not pause at important postures.

Building data analysis skills is part of modern elementary school curricula. Recent research has explored how to facilitate children's understanding of visual data representations through completion exercises which highlight links between concrete and abstract mappings. This approach scaffolds visualization activities by presenting a target visualization to children. But how can we engage children in more free-form visual data mapping exercises that are driven by their own mapping ideas? How can we scaffold a creative exploration of visualization techniques and mapping possibilities? We present Construct-A-Vis, a tablet-based tool designed to explore the feasibility of free-form and constructive visualization activities with elementary school children. Construct-A-Vis provides adjustable levels of scaffolding visual mapping processes. It can be used by children individually or as part of collaborative activities. Findings from a study with elementary school children using Construct-A-Vis individually and in pairs highlight the potential of this free-form constructive approach, as visible in children's diverse visualization outcomes and their critical engagement with the data and mapping processes. Based on our study findings we contribute insights into the design of free-form visualization tools for children, including the role of tool-based scaffolding mechanisms and shared interactions to guide visualization activities with children.

Analysing and understanding brain function and disorder is the main focus of neuroscience. Due to the high complexity of the brain, directionality of the signal and changing activity over time, visual exploration and data analysis are difficult. For this reason, a vast amount of research challenges are still unsolved. We explored different challenges of the visual analysis of brain data and the design of corresponding immersive environments in collaboration with experts from the biomedical domain. We built a prototype of an immersive virtual reality environment to explore the design space and to investigate how brain data analysis can be supported by a variety of design choices. Our environment can be used to study the effect of different visualisations and combinations of brain data representation, as for example network layouts, anatomical mapping or time series. As a long-term goal, we aim to aid neuro-scientists in a better understanding of brain function and disorder.

People's ability to remember and recall spatial information can be harnessed to improve navigation and search performances in interactive systems. In this paper, we investigate how display size and input modality influence spatial memory, especially in relation to efficiency and user satisfaction. Based on an experiment with 28 participants, we analyze the effect of three input modalities (trackpad, direct touch, and gesture-based motion controller) and two display sizes (10.6" and 55") on people's ability to navigate to spatially spread items and recall their positions. Our findings show that the impact of input modality and display size on spatial memory is not straightforward, but characterized by trade-offs between spatial memory, efficiency, and user satisfaction.

In recent years, research on cross-device interaction has become a popular topic in HCI leading to novel interaction techniques mutually interfering with new evolving theoretical paradigms. Building on previous research, we implemented an individual multi-device work environment for creative activities. In a study with 20 participants, we compared a traditional toolbar-based condition with two conditions facilitating spatially distributed tools on digital panels and on physical devices. We analyze participants' interactions with the tools, encountered problems and corresponding solutions, as well as subjective task load and user experience. Our findings show that the spatial distribution of tools indeed offers advantages, but also elicits new problems, that can partly be leveraged by the physical affordances of mobile devices.

Cross-device collaboration with tablets is an increasingly popular topic in HCI. Previous work has shown that tablet-only collaboration can be improved by an additional shared workspace on an interactive tabletop. However, large tabletops are costly and need space, raising the question to what extent the physical size of shared horizontal surfaces really pays off. In order to analyse the suitability of smaller-than-tabletop devices (e.g. tablets) as a low-cost alternative, we studied the effect of the size of a shared horizontal interactive workspace on users' attention, awareness, and efficiency during cross-device collaboration. In our study, 15 groups of two users executed a sensemaking task with two personal tablets (9.7") and a horizontal shared display of varying sizes (10.6", 27", and 55"). Our findings show that different sizes lead to differences in participants' interaction with the tabletop and in the groups' communication styles. To our own surprise we found that larger tabletops do not necessarily improve collaboration or sensemaking results, because they can divert users' attention away from their collaborators and towards the shared display.

Using affinity diagramming as an example, we investigate reality-based interfaces for supporting creative group work. Based on an observational study grounded in the reality-based interaction framework, we identified power vs. reality tradeoffs that can be addressed to find a close fit to embodied practice. Using this knowledge, we designed and implemented a digital workspace for supporting affinity diagramming. Its hybrid interaction techniques combine digital pen & paper with an interactive table and tangible tokens. An additional vertical display is used to support reflection-in-action and for enhancing discussion and coordination. A preliminary user study confirmed the applicability of our tradeoffs and the general acceptance of the tool design.

This article reports a study that investigated the occurrences of empathy in online support communities for teenagers. Qualitative content analysis with 400 messages from a discussion board about depression was used to identify how empathy was expressed in the specific online communication. Emphasis was also placed on the comparison of this age group to older people, by comparing the results with those from a previous study on empathy in an online support community about depression for older people. Specifically, the analysis focused on the frequencies of the categories of the code scheme, linguistic characteristics of the communication content, the occurring components of empathy, and the roles as well as activities of the members. From our analysis, we concluded that young people exchanged a substantial amount of empathic emotional communication when participating in an online support community, and they communicated on a more personal level compared to older people, who tended to engage in a more formal communication. In addition, teenagers also showed a high level of understanding but lower level of concern compared to older persons when expressing empathy online.

In this article, an online support community for older people is studied, with the aim of developing a taxonomy of social roles based on content analysis and social network analysis. Four hundred messages (posted between August 9, 2007, and February 5, 2008) in an online support community for older people (http://www.seniornet.org) were investigated. The data were analyzed to identify and shed light on patterns of the online functional behavior as well as the social structure of active members. Drawing on the findings, a set of six social roles were identified, defined, and described in depth. The findings showed that the structural positions of online community members were associated with the kind of content these members tended to post. For example, it was found that central members were very likely to give support, whereas members not very well connected were more inclined to post self-disclosing messages.

This paper reports an investigation of older adults’ needs and preferences concerning online social support. We focused our analysis on seven different aspects of online support: Self disclosure, Deep support, Light support, Community building, Information/Facts, Off topic, and Technical issues. For each aspect we were interested in how older adults perceive this aspect of support, what they think are the similarities and differences of this aspect of support in online settings vs offline settings, and what they perceive are the advantages and disadvantages of communicating this aspect of support online. We did this by conducting detailed interviews with three groups of older adults (31 people in total) with different levels of expertise in using the internet and online communication (older adults who do not use the internet, older adults who use only email, and older adults who participate in online support communities). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed. Our findings describe older adults’ perception of different aspects of support and identify their motivation for turning to online support and the reasons for any reluctance to do so. Thus, our findings give insight into how online support communities could best be utilized to improve older people’s experience with online support.

This article presents an investigation of empathy within an online community for older people (SeniorNet). Qualitative content analysis of 400 messages from a discussion board about depression was used to determine how empathy is expressed and facilitated in online communication. Special emphasis was placed on determining the components of online empathy. A code scheme that we developed to analyse online empathy is also presented. The findings were compared to offline studies about empathy in order to investigate the influence that the mediating technology has on the phenomenon.