Maia Jacobs

Human Centered Computing Ph.D. Candidate

School of Interactive Computing

College of Computing

Georgia Institute of Technology

Date: Monday, October 16th, 2017

Time: 12 PM to 3 PM EST

Location: 75 5th Street NE, 6th floor (Yellow Jacket Conference Room) - Centergy building

Committee

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Dr. Elizabeth Mynatt, School of Interactive Computing (Advisor)

Dr. Gregory Abowd, School of Interactive Computing 

Dr. Mark Ackerman, School of Information, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan

Dr. Rebecca Grinter, School of Interactive Computing 

Dr. Wanda Pratt, Information School, University of Washington

Dr. Thad Starner, School of Interactive Computing 

Abstract

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Approximately half of the adult population in the United States has been diagnosed with a chronic disease, requiring healthcare to extend its reach from medical centers and into the home and everyday settings. This shift has quickly made personal health informatics, a class of tools that support individuals’ personal health management, a critical component of care. Personal health informatics is widely considered to be an important strategy for improving chronic disease survivorship rates in the future, but developing effective tools to help individuals learn about and manage their health is a challenging and complex task. These technologies must offer the flexibility and robustness to conform to individuals’ evolving health situations. Existing tools typically focus on a small subset of goals or tasks, such as symptom tracking or exercise monitoring, placing the burden on patients to integrate information from disconnected sources and repeatedly find and incorporate new resources as their healthcare needs change. 

In my thesis, I have developed new computing approaches for mobile health tools that consider the holistic and changing needs of individuals over time. Specifically, I have led the design and evaluation of mobile health tools that offer personalized, adaptive health information to breast cancer patients. Through multiyear engagements with both breast cancer survivors and healthcare professionals, I worked to understand the complexities of cancer care and patients’ cancer experiences. These studies culminated in the design and evaluation of two novel mobile health systems: MyJourney Compass and MyPath. An evaluation of patients’ use of these systems demonstrate the ability for personalized health tools to encourage health management behaviors and influence patients’ health beliefs.