User acceptance of pervasive computing in healthcare: Main findings of two case studies

The successful implementation of pervasive computing technologies in healthcare does not only depend on technical issues but also on acceptability and acceptance issues. In this paper we focus on factors that facilitate or inhibit user acceptance of pervasive computing in healthcare. We present selected findings of the research project dasiaPerCoMed - Pervasive Computing in Healthcarepsila. The project is based on two case studies in pre- and post-clinical healthcare. In the first study, the potential of pervasive computing technologies for the treatment of acute cardiovascular diseases is investigated, in the second case study, the potential for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) is evaluated. A qualitative user acceptance analysis of the two case studies shows the following results: the main factor of user acceptance is the perceived medical usefulness. Furthermore, acceptance is strongly inhibited if data privacy or if subjective norms are violated. Usability only presents a decisive factor of acceptance if problems with usability reduce the perceived usefulness.