Can smart glasses change how people evaluate healthcare professionals? A mixed-method approach to using smart glasses in hospitals

Abstract

Recently, the use of smart glasses in healthcare professions has been increasingly discussed, but unlike in established application contexts such as logistics, healthcare professions depend on trusting interactions with patients. Research has mostly focused on the usefulness and usability of smart glasses and neglects the perspective of the interacting partner. In order to examine how patients perceive and evaluate the wearing and use of smart glasses by healthcare professionals, we used a mixed methods approach. First, we conducted an exploratory 7(glasses design) x2(sex) x2(social status) online experiment (N = 415) followed by a focus group study. While the experiment showed that the glasses design is most decisive to impression formation, the focus group study revealed that the smart glasses evoked equal amounts of confusion and curiosity among the observers. It seems that smart glasses are rather perceived as something attached to the body rather than as part of the body.