Towards a method for acceptability analysis: Application to healthcare innovation

The healthcare field, as many others, has the imperative to innovate in order to face its multiple performance and societal problems. Innovations should not only respond to users´ needs, but they also have to meet other technological and contextual factors to be successfully integrated and diffused. Acceptability evaluation should allow designers to anticipate and act accordingly to avoid project risks. However, the current literature lacks of models allowing an earlier awareness of those factors. This paper reports on the development of a method for acceptability evaluation that allows guiding the design of product and services in healthcare. A framework for acceptability evaluation is presented. A home healthcare technology case study is used to illustrate the application of the method.