Health Professionals’ attitudes to patients’ use of wearable technology

Angus Watt, Katherine Swainston, Gemma Wilson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
40 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objective: Wearable technologies for health monitoring are becoming increasingly mainstream. However, there is currently limited evidence exploring use from the perspective of healthcare professionals. This study aimed to explore health professionals’ attitudes toward their patients’ use of wearable technologies. Methods: A convenience sample of health professionals were recruited to participate in this study. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out either face-to-face, via Skype or telephone. Interviews were recorded using a Dictaphone, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using Thematic Analysis. Results: Four themes emerged from the qualitative findings: ‘opportunities for wearable technology’, ‘usability and understanding’, ‘privacy and surveillance’, and ‘cost’.
Conclusions: The findings portray health professionals’ ambivalence to the use of wearable technology, and it was apparent that whilst the participants considered the technology as being beneficial to patients, they still had concerns for its use.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-6
JournalDigital Health
Volume5
Early online date24 Apr 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Wearable technology
  • biometric monitoring
  • healthcare
  • qualitative

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