CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute Seminar

Speaker: Andrea G. Parker

Title: Community Wellness Informatics: Designing Technology for Health Equity

Description: In the United States, there are serious and persistent disparities in health outcomes. For example, socioeconomic status is predictive of mortality and disease, with low-SES households disproportionately experiencing the poorest health outcomes. This inequality is due in large part to the social determinants of health—social, physical, and economic conditions that make it more challenging to achieve wellness in low-SES communities.

Disruptive innovations are sorely needed to reduce health disparities. Information and communication technologies (ICTs), with their growing ubiquity and ability to provide engaging, informative, and empowering experiences for people, present exciting opportunities for health equity research.

In this talk, I will present a set of case studies demonstrating work from my research lab focused on examining how interactive computing can address issues of health equity. These case studies investigate how social, mobile, and civic technology can help low-SES communities to both cope with barriers to wellness and address these barriers directly. Using findings from this research, I will articulate opportunities and challenges for community wellness informatics—research that explores how ICTs can empower collectives to collaboratively pursue health and wellness goals.

For more information on this seminar, see https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/news/seminar/event/2021/03/seminar-andrea-g-parker

For all upcoming CMU HCII seminars, see https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/news/seminars