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Main Authors: Aguilera, Alba, Curto, Georgina, Osman, Nardine, Al-Awah, Ahmed
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.23644
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author Aguilera, Alba
Curto, Georgina
Osman, Nardine
Al-Awah, Ahmed
author_facet Aguilera, Alba
Curto, Georgina
Osman, Nardine
Al-Awah, Ahmed
contents Agent-based simulations have an untapped potential to inform social policies on urgent human development challenges in a non-invasive way, before these are implemented in real-world populations. This paper responds to the request from non-profit and governmental organizations to evaluate policies under discussion to improve equity in health care services for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the city of Barcelona. With this goal, we integrate the conceptual framework of the capability approach (CA), which is explicitly designed to promote and assess human well-being, to model and evaluate the behaviour of agents who represent PEH and social workers. We define a reinforcement learning environment where agents aim to restore their central human capabilities, under existing environmental and legal constraints. We use Bayesian inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) to calibrate profile-dependent behavioural parameters in PEH agents, modeling the degree of trust and engagement with social workers, which is reportedly a key element for the success of the policies in scope. Our results open a path to mitigate health inequity by building relationships of trust between social service workers and PEH.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_23644
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Agents Trusting Agents? Restoring Lost Capabilities with Inclusive Healthcare
Aguilera, Alba
Curto, Georgina
Osman, Nardine
Al-Awah, Ahmed
Multiagent Systems
Agent-based simulations have an untapped potential to inform social policies on urgent human development challenges in a non-invasive way, before these are implemented in real-world populations. This paper responds to the request from non-profit and governmental organizations to evaluate policies under discussion to improve equity in health care services for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the city of Barcelona. With this goal, we integrate the conceptual framework of the capability approach (CA), which is explicitly designed to promote and assess human well-being, to model and evaluate the behaviour of agents who represent PEH and social workers. We define a reinforcement learning environment where agents aim to restore their central human capabilities, under existing environmental and legal constraints. We use Bayesian inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) to calibrate profile-dependent behavioural parameters in PEH agents, modeling the degree of trust and engagement with social workers, which is reportedly a key element for the success of the policies in scope. Our results open a path to mitigate health inequity by building relationships of trust between social service workers and PEH.
title Agents Trusting Agents? Restoring Lost Capabilities with Inclusive Healthcare
topic Multiagent Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.23644