UCD/PHA WORKSHOP (PervasiveHealth 2010)

Research Article

Acceptance of pervasive healthcare systems: A comparison of different implementation concepts

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2010.8915,
        author={Martina Ziefle and Carsten Rocker},
        title={Acceptance of pervasive healthcare systems: A comparison of different implementation concepts},
        proceedings={UCD/PHA WORKSHOP (PervasiveHealth 2010) },
        proceedings_a={UCD-PHA},
        year={2010},
        month={6},
        keywords={Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing AmbientAssisted Living Technology Acceptance Health Study.},
        doi={10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2010.8915}
    }
    
  • Martina Ziefle
    Carsten Rocker
    Year: 2010
    Acceptance of pervasive healthcare systems: A comparison of different implementation concepts
    UCD-PHA
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2010.8915
Martina Ziefle1,*, Carsten Rocker1,*
  • 1: Communication Science, Human Technology Centre (HumTec), RWTH Aachen University, Theaterplatz 14, 52056 Aachen, Germany
*Contact email: ziefle@humtec.rwth-aachen.de, roecker@humtec.rwth-aachen.de

Abstract

While pervasive healthcare systems bear the potential to provide patients with a new quality of medical homecare, the complexity of such systems raises fundamental questions of behavior, communication and technology acceptance. This is especially important, as users of future healthcare systems will be increasingly characterized by diversity. Relying only on highly experienced and technology-prone user groups, which might have been typical users in the last decades, is not sufficient anymore. Rather, elderly users, users with a completely different upbringing and domain knowledge, and ill or handicapped people will have to use the systems. Today, the understanding, in which way physical, emotional and cognitive abilities, caused by individual learning histories and health states, may impact the usage and acceptance of pervasive healthcare technologies, is restricted. This research contributes to this topic by investigating the acceptance motives of aged users with different health states regarding three different implementation concepts for medical technologies: medical technology implemented in mobile devices, smart environments and smart clothing. Using the questionnaire method, a total of 82 users between 40 and 92 years of age were examined regarding their usage motives and barriers with respect to the different technology concepts. Overall, it was revealed that acceptance issues and users' needs and wants should be considered in order to successfully design new medical technologies.