Factors influencing consumers’ adoption and use of wearable technologies

Inactivity and increase in chronic health conditions caused by sedentary behavior have become a growing concern in many countries. In the past years, many health and wellbeing technologies have been launched to promote healthy behavior and help people to better monitor and track their activity level and performance throughout the day. The main goal of this thesis was to take a closer look at factors influencing consumers’ adoption and use of wearable technologies. For this purpose, a theoretical framework was built, highlighting key factors influencing perceived benefits, perceived risks and abandonment of wearable devices. The theoretical framework was tested by conducting an empirical study using netnography. Focus of the empirical study was narrowed down to the consumer market and activity trackers. Data of this study was collected from top rated reviews (N=60) in Amazon for three products: Fitbit Charge 2, Garmin Vivosmart HR+ and Polar A370. Sixty customer reviews were collected and analyzed using Atlas.ti. Results of this study showed that usefulness is the most influential factor on consumers’ perceived benefits of a wearable device. Perceived risks are mainly affected by financial and performance risks. Finally, data inaccuracy, build quality, synchronization, poor UI & UX design and system malfunction are the most impactful factors for dissatisfaction and device abandonment

Health and well-being implications surrounding the use of wearable GPS devices in professional rugby league: A Foucauldian disciplinary analysis of the normalised use of a common surveillance aid

Wearable GPS tracking devices have become commonplace coaching aids across professional field sports to enhance sports performances and reduce injury rates, despite the implications of the technology being poorly understood. This study looked at how GPS devices are used and the impact constant surveillance has upon the physical, psychological, and emotional health of rugby football workers. The disciplinary analysis of Michel Foucault was used to investigate how British Super League teams use wearable GPS technology, to investigate the dominant 'truth' that promotes surveillance technologies as 'universally beneficial' to athlete sports performance, health and well-being. Data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with three performance analysts/strength and conditioning coaches at three different Super League clubs across the North of England. Participants confessed data generated from wearable GPS is often totally ignored, despite being specifically produced to protect athlete health and wellbeing. When used, GPS data can become a 'disciplinary tool' to normalise and coerce players to comply with potentially unhealthy physical and psychological demands of a professional playing career. Importantly, regardless of how GPS data was used, the employment of wearable GPS devices was constantly and rigorously implemented. The constant surveillance experience by working players, when mismanaged or adopted as a coercive disciplinary tool, magnifies the uncertainty and fear of failure central to the predominant challenges that arise during a working football career. This leads to the acceptance of problematic norms damaging to physical, psychological, and emotional health. If GPS or other surveillance based performance analysis technologies are to be used in sport, coaches need to regulate or re-think their day-to-day use to avoid creating new harms to athlete health and well-being

Factors Influencing Long-Term Adoption of Wearable Activity Trackers

Wearable technology for activity tracking has been widely adopted to support users in improving or maintaining their physical activity rates. However, while some users derive value from their trackers for a long time, others find barriers to incorporating this technology into their routines. Using an online survey focused on both ex-users and current users of activity trackers, this study investigated factors of discouragement and reasons that could contribute to long-term adoption. Subsequent interviews with a sample of ten participants were conducted to complement the understanding of the users’ experiences and their motivations. Through these approaches, the findings of this study suggest that long-term use is derived from the positive difference between the sense of usefulness and the effort necessary to maintain the continuous use of the devices

Rethinking Wearable Activity Trackers as Assistive Technologies: A Qualitative Study on Long-Term Use

This study proposes that wearable activity trackers (WATs), such as Fitbit, Apple Watch, can be viewed as assistive technologies to promote older adults’ health and independent living. Qualitative interview data with 20 older adults (65 and older) who had used WATs for six months or longer were analyzed within the framework of the Match Person and Technology (MPT) model. We found that personal and psychosocial factors, environmental factors, and technology-related factors contributed to the participants’ long-term engagement with WATs. Determination and self-discipline, support from one’s family members and friends, and goal setting and feedback of goal accomplishment were among the most mentioned facilitators of using WATs for more than six months. We discussed the design implications of these findings

COUNTING ON: Humanizing self-tracked data in a connected world

This thesis explores the evolving role of the Quantified Self and self-tracking culture within personalized healthcare. Health and fitness wearables are proliferating globally. However, wearable device abandonment rates are also surging. Wearables can sometimes be authoritative or punitive when presenting wearers with their biological data. In the past, some devices have even triggered adverse health-related conditions. This thesis proposes an approach to visualizing biological data from wearables, in ways that are coherent, contextual, and humane. It critiques normative data visualizations in commercial wearables and speculates alternate futures for self-tracking to empower individuals to manage their health and well-being autonomously. Through an iterative development process to prototype creation, the author gathers biological data using a consumer wearable device and uses it to propose an information architecture that categorizes the data coherently. The architecture is applied in hand-drawn, domestic, embedded visualization prototypes that present the author’s biological data. Lastly, user interviews are conducted to acquire responses to the prototypes and plan possibilities for future iterations. The purpose of this research is to advocate empathy and compassion in the emerging culture of living with data while considering the intricacies of everyday life, the imperfections of being human, and the need for autonomy in personal data management