SMARTWATCHES AND ELDERLY HEALTHCARE IN PAKISTAN: STUDY OF ADOPTION, ACCEPTANCE, AND SOCIAL SUPPORT

Muhammad Mudassar; Abdul Haseeb; Muhammad Mumtaz

Authors

Muhammad Mudassar Computer Science Department, COMSATS University Islamabad Vehari Campus, Vehari, Punjab, Pakistan (Corresponding Author).
Abdul Haseeb Department of Management Sciences, Dar-ul-Madina International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Muhammad Mumtaz Department of Public Administration, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.

Keywords:

Smartwatch, Adoption, Elderly Healthcare, Perceiving The Use of Smartwatch, Pakistan

Abstract

Huge proliferation of IoT devices including smartwatch is observed recently. A smartwatch offers several applications for fitness and healthcare. Considering these trends and benefits elder persons can benefit by using smartwatch and IoT technology for their healthcare. There exist studies on smartwatch use by elderly persons investigating the factors influencing old age adults; however, there is limited research on studying the behavior of elderly persons for adopting smartwatches for the healthcare purpose especially for the developing countries like Pakistan. At the same the adoptions, acceptance and social support are the important factors need to study under the social and technical perspective to provide a way of how the elderly get healthcare using technical aspects of smartwatches. Semi-structured interviews were performed for this purpose. The data was subjected to thematic analysis using socio-technical theory, which revealed four main themes that are health monitoring at an older age, usability features of a smartwatch for healthcare, smartwatch adoption and acceptance and social support of using smartwatches by the elderly. Results revealed that smartwatches helped to encourage better healthcare for the elderly because they could be used as health monitoring devices to actively control and track health-related parameters. The results highlight the mutually beneficial acceptance of smartwatch to improve elderly healthcare along with adoption and acceptance levels. These observations offer vital advice for healthcare professionals, academics, and stakeholders looking to improve the healthcare of the elderly as smartwatches continue to reshape healthcare management.

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