Investigating Employees' Concerns and Wishes Regarding Digital Stress Management Interventions With Value Sensitive...

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Occupational Health
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Ethics in Technology

Background:

• Work-related stress imposes significant societal economic and health costs.
• Digital health interventions offer potential solutions for employee stress management.
• Ethical risks, particularly concerning big data, are often overlooked in the design of digital stress management interventions (dSMI).

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply the Value Sensitive Design (VSD) framework to identify employee values related to workplace dSMIs.
• To assess user comprehension of these values and derive requirements for ethical dSMI design.
• To bridge the gap between technological advancement and ethical considerations in digital health.

Main Methods:

• Literature search to identify values relevant to workplace dSMIs.
• Web-based study with employees of a Swiss company, using closed and open questions for quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Application of the VSD framework to integrate ethical considerations throughout the design process.

Main Results:

• Identified values: health and well-being, privacy, autonomy, accountability, and identity.
• Employees showed moderate to high intention to use and perceived usefulness of dSMIs.
• Significant concerns were raised regarding dSMI effectiveness, potential stress amplification, and privacy, especially with machine learning monitoring.
• Novel values: integrability, user-friendliness, and digital independence emerged from qualitative analysis.

Conclusions:

• Employees are generally willing to use dSMIs, but concerns about effectiveness and privacy persist.
• Personalized dSMIs with machine learning monitoring require careful attention to privacy and accountability.
• Specific design requirements are proposed to support VSD for ethical dSMI development.
• Findings will inform future research on VSD-based interventions and ethical digital health integration.