Investigating the Day-to-Day Experiences of Users with Traumatic Brain Injury with Conversational Agents

TL;DR

This study explores how individuals with traumatic brain injury use conversational agents over four weeks, revealing gaps in current capabilities and suggesting design improvements to better support their daily needs.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into TBI users' interaction patterns with CAs, highlighting accessibility challenges and proposing targeted design implications.

Findings

Identified 14 TBI-related activities performed with CAs

Categorized activities into mental health, cognitive, healthcare, and routine

Revealed significant accessibility gaps in current CAs

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause cognitive, communication, and psychological challenges that profoundly limit independence in everyday life. Conversational Agents (CAs) can provide individuals with TBI with cognitive and communication support, although little is known about how they make use of CAs to address injury-related needs. In this study, we gave nine adults with TBI an at-home CA for four weeks to investigate use patterns, challenges, and design requirements, focusing particularly on injury-related use. The findings revealed significant gaps between the current capabilities of CAs and accessibility challenges faced by TBI users. We also identified 14 TBI-related activities that participants engaged in with CAs. We categorized those activities into four groups: mental health, cognitive activities, healthcare and rehabilitation, and routine activities. Design implications focus on accessibility improvements and functional designs of CAs that can better support the day-to-day needs of people with TBI.