Abstract
With advances in technology, wireless and sensor technologies represent a method for continuously recording people’s biomedical signals, which may enhance the diagnosis and treatment of users’ everyday health conditions. These technologies mostly target older adults. In this study, we examine a smart clothing system targeting clinically high-risk patients, including older adults with cardiovascular disease (31 outpatients) and older adults in general (81 participants), to obtain an understanding of the patients’ perception of using wearable healthcare technologies. Given that technology anxiety has been shown to affect users’ resistance to using new technology and that perceived ubiquity is considered a characteristic of wearable devices and other mobile wireless technologies, we included three external variables: i.e., technology anxiety, perceived ubiquity, and resistance to change, in addition to the traditional components of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The results of the hypothesized model showed that among older adults in general, technology anxiety had a negative effect on the perceived ease of use and perceived ubiquity. The perceived ubiquity construct affects both user groups’ perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of wearing smart clothes. Most relationships among the original constructs of the TAM were validated in older adults in general. Interestingly, we found that perceived usefulness had an indirect effect on behavioral intention through attitude. These results further confirm the validity of the extended TAM in determining older users’ technology acceptance behavior.
Highlights
With improvements in sanitation, enhanced living standards, medical advances, and the development of technologies, the average life expectancy has increased globally over the past few decades, especially in developed countries [1]
The population demographics in Taiwan have exhibited a dramatic change over the past few years
TA1 I feel apprehensive about using the smart clothing system
Summary
With improvements in sanitation, enhanced living standards, medical advances, and the development of technologies, the average life expectancy has increased globally over the past few decades, especially in developed countries [1]. The percentage of the elderly population (aged 65 years) in Japan is expected to exceed 30% in 2025 and to reach 39.9% in 2060, while the national total population reached its peak in 2008 and has subsequently decreased steadily [2]. The percentage of older adults in Taiwan was only approximately 2.5% in the mid-20th century, but with rapid industrialization and modernization, Taiwan became an aging society in 1993, with older adults accounting for 7% of the population. Taiwan is expected to become a super-aged society (20% of the population aged above 65) by approximately 2025 [3]. A similar phenomenon has been observed in Western countries; for example, the older adult population in the United States is expected to nearly double from 48 million to 88 million by 2050 [4]. Increased life expectancy can be considered an indication of positive human and societal development, it leads to challenges in older adults’ health conditions
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