Trust and Human Factors in the Design of Healthcare Technology

Every day people use multiple technologies to perform complex tasks, such as buying products online, informing their decision making, or supporting their work activities. In many cases, as in healthcare, high risk processes are dependent on the technology to deliver the appropriate service e. g. diagnostics outcomes, deliver treatments to patients. Hence there is a need for the users and stakeholders of healthcare technologies to trust that these produce accurate and reliable results. Research suggests that trust is: (i) a set of beliefs that a person has before they use or the experience a technology or system; (ii) built throughout the relationship between user and system, and (iii) dependent on the cumulative experience with a specific system. This paper explores the current studies on trust, and its relationship with the concept of user experience. The main contribution is to: (i) propose a definition of Trust Towards Systems (TTS) to bridge the concept of trust and experience; (ii) highlight the importance of TTS given findings for research on trust in other (non-health) settings and to show how design can be used to change perceptions of trust.