Ari Pollack

Ray-Yuan Chung, Athena Ortega, Zixuan Xu et al.

In pediatrics, patients, caregivers, and clinicians share responsibility for health decisions, but limited collaboration can undermine outcomes. We conducted a qualitative study examining decision-makers perceptions toward collaborative decision-making technologies, including interactive dashboards, VR simulators, and AI voice assistants. Findings reveal differences in user opinions across groups and indicate technology acceptance is linked to users trust of these technologies. Technology developers and researchers need to explore design and implementation strategies that build and facilitate trust or appropriate distrust between users and these novel technologies before these tools can effectively support collaborative decision-making.

Ray-Yuan Chung, Xuhai Xu, Ari Pollack

Large language model based health agents are increasingly used by health consumers and clinicians to interpret health information and guide health decisions. However, most AI systems in healthcare operate in siloed configurations, supporting individual users rather than the multi-stakeholder relationships central to healthcare. Such use can fragment understanding and exacerbate misalignment among patients, caregivers, and clinicians. We reframe AI not as a standalone assistant, but as a collaborator embedded within multi-party care interactions. Through a clinically validated fictional pediatric chronic kidney disease case study, we show that breakdowns in adherence stem from fragmented situational awareness and misaligned goals, and that siloed use of general-purpose AI tools does little to address these collaboration gaps. We propose a conceptual framework for designing AI collaborators that surface contextual information, reconcile mental models, and scaffold shared understanding while preserving human decision authority.

Ray-Yuan Chung, Jaime Snyder, Zixuan Xu et al.

In pediatric chronic care, the triadic relationship among patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers introduces unique challenges for youth in managing their conditions. Diverging values, roles, and asymmetrical situational awareness across decision-maker groups often hinder collaboration and affect health outcomes, highlighting the need to support collaborative decision-making. We conducted co-design workshops with 6 youth with chronic kidney disease, 6 caregivers, and 7 healthcare providers to explore how digital technologies can be designed to support collaborative decision-making. Findings identify barriers across all levels of situational awareness, ranging from individual cognitive and emotional constraints, misaligned mental models, to relational conflicts regarding care goals. We propose design implications that support continuous decision-making practice, align mental models, balance caregiver support and youth autonomy development, and surface potential care challenges. This work advances the design of collaborative decision-making technologies that promote shared understanding and empower families in pediatric chronic care.