ABSTRACT

Healthcare is an area that has benefitted from the developments in wearable device technology. Seniors, who usually suffer from multiple comorbidities, are among the target users of these devices, and research has shown potential health benefits for seniors when they use these devices effectively. However, the adoption rate of wearable devices is low, especially among seniors, preventing the full utilisation of their data in healthcare. In this study, we interviewed forty-four seniors across North America and collected data from their wearable devices to develop a theoretical affordance network-based model to explain seniors’ effective use of wearable devices. Our model indicates that despite the apparent simplicity of wearable devices, they have multiple affordances that help seniors achieve several goals, including activity monitoring, activity planning, and activity improvement. Furthermore, we identified factors that enable seniors to actualise the affordances of wearable devices and achieve their goals. The results of this study suggest a strong relationship between seniors’ mental and physical capabilities and their willingness to use and benefit from wearable devices. We join other researchers in their call for a contextual study on consumer technology use.

摘要

医疗保健是一个受益于可穿戴设备技术发展的领域。通常患有多种合并症的老年人是这些设备的目标用户之一，研究表明，当老年人有效使用这些设备时，他们有潜在的健康益处。然而，可穿戴设备的采用率很低，尤其是在老年人中，这阻碍了他们在医疗保健中充分利用数据。在这项研究中，我们采访了北美的 44 位老年人，并从他们的可穿戴设备中收集数据，以开发一个基于网络的理论可供性模型来解释老年人对可穿戴设备的有效使用。我们的模型表明，尽管可穿戴设备看起来很简单，但它们具有多种功能，可以帮助老年人实现多个目标，包括活动监控、活动计划和活动改进。此外，我们确定了使老年人能够实现可穿戴设备的功能并实现其目标的因素。这项研究的结果表明，老年人的心理和身体能力与他们使用可穿戴设备并从中受益的意愿之间存在密切关系。我们与其他研究人员一起呼吁对消费者技术使用进行背景研究。