Smart glasses have the potential to transform healthcare, but their acceptance and use are under pressure due to concerns about social interaction around smart glasses, such as privacy, intended use, and the social isolation of the user. However, the value is seen in healthcare, where they could potentially help manage demographic changes and growing staff shortages. This dissertation poses questions about the acceptance and appropriation of smart glasses in healthcare, including social and ethical implications. Under the premise that humans and technology mutually influence each other, a theoretical framework has been constructed to investigate the complexity of both acceptance and social interaction around smart glasses. In this dissertation, theoretical perspectives from technology acceptance and social cognitive theory are combined with the mediation perspective from philosophy of technology to better understand the appropriation of smart glasses. Through multiple studies, including analyses of YouTube comments, focus groups, a developed and validated questionnaire, and interviews with healthcare professionals, a detailed portrayal of the potential and challenges associated with the appropriation of smart glasses is provided. The results show that although there may initially be concerns and resistance, the perception of smart glasses can change positively after prolonged use. This dissertation emphasizes the importance of studying the appropriation of technology at different stages of diffusion and from different perspectives, to get a richer and more comprehensive picture of how innovations like smart glasses can best be integrated into healthcare.
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Purpose – In the domain of healthcare, both process efficiency and the quality of care can be improved through the use of dedicated pervasive technologies. Among these applications are so-called real-time location systems (RTLS). Such systems are designed to determine and monitor the location of assets and people in real time through the use of wireless sensor networks. Numerous commercially available RTLS are used in hospital settings. The nursing home is a relatively unexplored context for the application of RTLS and offers opportunities and challenges for future applications. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper sets out to provide an overview of general applications and technologies of RTLS. Thereafter, it describes the specific healthcare applications of RTLS, including asset tracking, patient tracking and personnel tracking. These overviews are followed by a forecast of the implementation of RTLS in nursing homes in terms of opportunities and challenges. Findings – By comparing the nursing home to the hospital, the RTLS applications for the nursing home context that are most promising are asset tracking of expensive goods owned by the nursing home in orderto facilitate workflow and maximise financial resources, and asset tracking of personal belongings that may get lost due to dementia. Originality/value – This paper is the first to provide an overview of potential application of RTLS technologies for nursing homes. The paper described a number of potential problem areas that can be addressed by RTLS. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited Original article: https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-11-2017-0046 For this paper Joost van Hoof received the Highly Recommended Award from Emerald Publishing Ltd. in October 2019: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/literati/awards.htm?year=2019
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