Building a predictive model of U.S. patient willingness to undergo robotic surgery.

Prior research regarding robotic surgery (RS) has largely focused on the engineering or medical aspects of these tools. A few studies have examined consumer opinions toward, or willingness to use, robotic surgeons; however, no study to date has examined what type of person would be willing to undergo RS. Across two studies, the current research fills this gap by building both a descriptive and predictive regression model used to predict what type of user would be willing to undergo RS. To build the descriptive model, 1324 potential patients were asked a series of questions about demographics, attitudes, opinions, and personalities. Results indicate that perceived value, familiarity, wariness of new technologies, fear of surgery, openness, anger, fear, and happiness are all significant predictors of willingness to undergo RS. A regression equation was developed and then used to predict scores in a second study with 1335 potential patients. The scores from both studies were compared for model fit. Several methods were used to validate the regression model, including correlational analyses, a t test, and calculation of the cross-validity coefficient. All three stringent tests showed strong model fit, explaining 62% of the variance in the model. These findings have both practical and theoretical values to the field and can be used to identify early adopters of this advanced medical technology.

Team Combat Identification: Effects of Gender, Spatial Visualization, and Disagreement.

OBJECTIVE: The combat identification (CID) abilities of same-gender and mixed-gender dyads were experimentally assessed, along with measures of spatial skills and team communication. BACKGROUND: CID is a high-stakes decision-making task involving discrimination between friendly and enemy forces. Literature on CID is primarily focused on the individual, but the extensive use of teams in the military means that more team-based research is needed in this area. METHOD: After a set of training sessions, 39 dyads were tasked with identifying 10 armored vehicles in a series of pictures and videos. Team communication was recorded, transcribed, and coded for instances of disagreements. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that males scored higher on a spatial visualization measure than did females. M-M teams performed significantly better than M-F teams on the CID task, but when spatial ability and team disagreements were added as predictors, the effect of team gender composition became nonsignificant. Spatial ability and team disagreement were significant predictors of team CID performance. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that spatial skills and team disagreement behaviors are more important for team CID performance than a team's gender composition. To our knowledge, this is the first lab study of team CID. APPLICATION: This research highlights the importance of understanding both individual differences (e.g., spatial skills) and team processes (e.g., communication) within CID training environments in the military context.

Patient Perceptions of New Robotic Technologies in Clinical Restorative Dentistry.

Patient perception research has failed to focus on burgeoning technology within the dental field. Specifically, researchers have yet to focus on developing robotic technologies which are being utilized by dentists to help perform certain procedures with added precision and route mapping. The current study attempts to fill the gap created by a lack of intersection between dental technology research, consumer perceptions research, and automation research. The current research takes a two-study approach, with study 1 investigating if gender or price of the procedure affects willingness to undergo a robotic dental procedure. Study 2 further investigates this phenomenon, identifying ten separate types of dental procedures (ranging from minimally invasive to extremely invasive) to further understand consumer perceptions. Results indicate that females are less willing to undergo a robotic dental procedure, and that participants in general are more willing to undergo a procedure if it is half price than if it full price. Willingness is influenced by gender and the type of procedure being performed - participants were less willing to undergo invasive procedures such as gum surgery than noninvasive procedures such as teeth whitening. These results, and their theoretical and practical significance are discussed.