Wearable Devices’ Use in Geriatric Care between Patient-Centeredness and Psychology of Patients

Abstract

Wearable devices have potentials for monitoring elderly patients’ health. Many efforts have been made to encourage its use among this population. However, not all of them are succeeding in improving the wearables’ use. In this study, we explored the impact of patient-centered practice in healthcare on wearable devices’ use and the role of this technology use in improving patients’ mental health.

We found that a majority of 84.96% of the elderly people who responded to the surveys reported using wearable devices in the last 12 months to monitor or track health activity. For the patient-centered care impact, making sure patients understand next steps and standing by their feelings improve the use of wearable devices (OR=5.95 P=0.011, OR=1.04 P=0.028). However, people who were involved in decision making did not use wearable devices (OR=0.77 P=0.014). For the impact of technology use, wearable users were less likely to experience severe depression and anxiety levels (P=0.0038, OR=0.436). Designers of wearable devices need to create patient-centered features that go with the patients’ needs to ensure the acceptability of this technology.