Emotions, Technology, and Health

Sharon Tettegah · Yolanda E Garcia

Jan 2016 · Academic Press

About this ebook

Emotions, Technology, and Health examines how healthcare consumers interact with health technology, how this technology mediates interpersonal interactions, and the effectiveness of technology in gathering health-related information in various situations. The first section discusses the use of technology to monitor patients’ emotional responses to illness and its treatment, as well as the role of technology in meeting the fundamental human need for information. Section Two describes the use of technology in mediating emotions within and between individuals, and addresses the implications for the design and use of devices that gather behavioral health data and contribute to healthcare interventions. The final section assesses different situations in which technology is a key component of the health intervention—such as tablet use in educating elementary school students with social skills difficulty, physical activity monitoring for children at risk for obesity, and teleconferencing for older adults at risk of social isolation.

• Shows how information on the internet significantly affects the medical decision-making process for many consumers
• Describes current applications of social computing and quick access to mental health information on portable electronic devices
• Discusses how cyber-communication may both impair and enhance one’s sense of humanity
• Details the role of visual media in mediating emotion and memory of time

About the author

Sharon Tettegah is a Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Former Program Chair of Digital Environments for Learning, Teaching and Agency in the College of Education, at the University of Illinois, at Urbana Champaign. She has an appointment in the Cognitive Neuroscience in Bio-Intelligence at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. In addition, she is a Research Scientist and affiliate at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Her research centers on the intersection of STEM learning, Emotions, Equity and Social justice. She was also a Program Director in 2010-2012 at the National Science Foundation where she managed five programs in the Directorates of Education and Human Resources, Computer and Information Science and Engineering and including a NSF cross-cutting program on Science, Engineering, Education for Sustainability (SEES). She is also the Series Editor for Emotions and Technology with Elsevier, Academic Psychology Division.