Concerns and Trade-offs in Information Technology Acceptance: The Balance between the Requirement for Privacy and the Desire for Safety

In this paper, we construct a new motivation model by bridging self-determination theory (SDT) with the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Using an explorative approach, we study how human motivational determinants influence the trade-off between safety and privacy in technology acceptance. We take the Scandinavian healthcare context as our empirical outset and explore how older Danish adults perceive sensor-based e-health monitor technology that monitors their health status. Danish municipalities have begun to use these technologies to identify early warning signs and, thereby, improve the quality of care and life by making people more self-reliant and reducing unnecessary hospitalization. However, one needs to consider ethical issues concerning privacy versus safety when implementing these technologies. After monitoring 21 respondents (mean age: 85) living independently at home over nine weeks, we interviewed them about their concerns regarding privacy and safety. We found that the respondents were willing to compromise their privacy if their autonomy and personal integrity were respected and if the benefits of sensor-based monitoring outweighed health-related threats. We used these findings and the theoretical outset to create a novel model that takes human motivation into account when using UTAUT

The Digital Divide in Healthcare: A Socio-Cultural Perspective of Digital Literacy

As the use of IT for health management increases, digital health literacy becomes an important factor. Based on semi-structured interviews, this study presents experts’ perceptions about patients’ abilities to use digital health technologies for health management purposes and their perspectives on the importance of digital health literacy. This sociologically inspired paper will contribute with insights and a multidimensional perspective on the processes of digital health management (field), the importance of patient’s abilities (capital) in improving their health (habitus) from the expert’s perspectives

User perspectives and preferences regarding a mobile health cough application:A qualitative study during the coronavirus disease pandemic in Denmark

Introduction Health care systems worldwide are currently facing major challenges because of the coronavirus disease pandemic. When individuals experience coronavirus disease symptoms, they often have to decide whether to seek health care services and render themselves vulnerable to infection or stay home and monitor their condition. Coronavirus disease management strategies should aim to reduce transmission, promote disease control, and facilitate self-monitoring within the population. In this regard, mobile health technologies serve as supportive tools, and acquiring knowledge about user perspectives will facilitate the development and integration of coronavirus disease-related applications. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine user perspectives on applications that monitor coronavirus disease-related physical signs and identify discrepancies between user expectations and developer design perspectives within the Danish context. Materials and methods A qualitative research design was adopted. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted to examine user expectations during the first wave of the coronavirus disease pandemic in April 2020. The theoretical framework, which was inspired by the concept of health literacy, was developed using a six-step thematic analytic approach. Results The analysis yielded two major themes that captured user experiences: (1) coronavirus disease-related applications may serve as digital tools that foster safety when physical signs are monitored and (2) the acceptability of coronavirus disease-related applications depends on the adoption of a personalised and user-friendly design