Technology Acceptance in Mobile Health: Scoping Review of Definitions, Models, and Measurement.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Digital Health

Background:

• Designing user-friendly technologies is challenging, especially in healthcare where patient acceptance is paramount.
• Existing definitions and measurement approaches for technology acceptance in health are inconsistent.
• A clear understanding of user acceptance across the technology journey is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore interpretations and measurements of technology acceptance in mobile health (mHealth) literature.
• To compare mHealth acceptance with existing models and identify gaps.
• To clarify the process of technology acceptance.

Main Methods:

• Searched PubMed using "Patient Acceptance of Health Care" and "Mobile Applications".
• Included studies defining "acceptability," "acceptance," "adoption," "accept," or "adopt".
• Analyzed 68 relevant studies.

Main Results:

• Technology acceptance interpretations in mHealth literature are varied and often inconsistent with established definitions.
• Homogeneous usage and adapted models for specific populations are lacking.
• Custom surveys dominate measurement, indicating a lack of standardized tools.

Conclusions:

• Inconsistent definitions hinder study replication and comparison.
• A proposed Technology Acceptance Lifecycle framework offers coherence.
• A common definition and measurement framework is essential for staged technology acceptance.