Wearable Device Technology in Healthcare - Exploring Constraining and Enabling Factors

The aim of this literature review is to investigate enabling and constraining factors of wearable devices in healthcare. While offering patients a better quality of life as they may spend less time in hospitals, wearables can also play a key role in solving the current crises in the health sector. 1’195 articles were screened, and 41 papers in total were analyzed for the review. Most studies focused on product design, specifically user acceptance and user adaption. Some studies investigated how machine learning can improve the accuracy and reliability of wearables or focused on the quality of treatment and how wearables can improve a patient’s quality of life. However, one important aspect, how to handle big data issues like security and privacy for wearables is mostly neglected. Further research is required, dealing with the questions, how devices can become secure for patients and how the data of patients will not become accessible.