Fostering Trust-based Relationship between Self-care Users and Home Medical Device in Thai and Japanese

- Research on the Methods for Incorporating Social Roles in Blood Pressure Monitor to Increase Thai and Japanese User's Perception of Trustworthiness -

Abstract

This paper presents a cross-cultural research on the perception of trustworthiness in home medical device (blood pressure monitor or BPM) in Thai and Japanese young adults. The paper focuses on the method and effectiveness of incorporating social role image into the device's design to strengthen the product image of trustworthiness among Japanese and Thai users. Literature review and cross-cultural survey on trustworthiness impressions of 7 social roles relating to home care were first carried out. A controlled experiment was then conducted to investigate different methods of incorporating “Caretaker/Nurse” social role image into BPM's cuff, and their effectiveness in conveying impression of trustworthiness of BPM to Thai and Japanese young adult users. In both Thai and Japanese group, there were statistically significant changes in mood and ratings of components that have been found to be related to perception of trustworthiness.