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Compassionate technology : illusion or opportunity? Development and validation of a new scale to measure compassion in technology

Harms, J. L. (2021) Compassionate technology : illusion or opportunity? Development and validation of a new scale to measure compassion in technology.

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Abstract:Compassion has beneficial effects in the treatment of (mental) healthcare when applied by therapists or physicians in general. Additionally, an increase in digital healthcare solutions has seen a rapid increase in recent years offering technological treatment options to a broader range of patients. It seems therefore logical that technology in order to be effective should incorporate compassionate elements to ensure sufficient treatment. This study aimed to conceptualize, develop, and validate a new measurement to assess the perceived level of compassion in technology. The resulted measurement has 25 items across five dimensions derived from Strauss et al.’s (2016) definition of compassion. Data was collected through a vignette based study (N=69) using three scenarios of different compassionate technologies. Exploratory factor analysis showed that there were indeed five underlying factors present, which could be linked to their conceptualized construct. Four items were removed due to having no factor loadings > 0.6 on any factor. Reliability was excellent with Cronbach’s a = 0.93. The results indicate a successful and promising development of measurement for compassion in technology that could have useful applications (e.g. in the design and implementation of healthcare technology).
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/87566
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