Exploring the factors that support adoption and sustained use of health and fitness wearables

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) and, particularly, wearable products have changed the focus of the healthcare industry to prevention programmes that enable people to become active and take responsibility for their own health. These benefits will only materialise, however, if users adopt and continue to use these products, as opposed to abandoning them shortly after purchase. Our study investigates how the characteristics of the device, the context and the user can support the adoption and the sustained use of health and fitness wearables. We find that the factors that support the former differ from those that support the latter. For instance, features that signal the device’s ability to collect activity data are essential for adoption, whereas device portability and resilience are key for sustained use.