The challenges of multi-disciplinary research in the design and adoption of self-managing technologies
A. Eccles
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AbstractAlready established as a ‘world leader’ in digital technologies that enable self-management for health related conditions (Dobrev et al, 2013)], the United Kingdom (UK) has announced a further push in this policy direction (Oliver, 2018). These technologies have been heralded by policy makers and industry interests alike as a solution to the challenges of demographic change and the widely acknowledged crisis in the provision of adequate levels of social care (Parliament. House of Lords, 2019). While the research evidence suggests self-managing technology solutions often work well, there are significant complexities in their use, and conflicting interpretations around efficacy and cost-effectiveness. These have stymied their projected adoption. Thus informed, the UK Government’s research agenda now encourages the funding of multi-disciplinary research teams, bringing product engineers, behavioural psychologists, and social scientists together to inform a more socio-technical understanding of these technologies from the outset of their design. Existing research has explored the reasons for uneven user adoption and weak adherence in personalised healthcare technologies (Eccles, 2021). Three issues prevail; dissonance between the assumptions of efficacy by technologists and the actual ‘lived experience’ of users of these technologies; the lack of seamlessness in the use of technologies across multiple morbidities; and over-ambitious assumptions about users’ capacity to ‘self-manage’ their health and care needs without further assistance.Keywords: socio-technical, diabetes, multi-disciplinary research, policy frames
A. Eccles (2022). The challenges of multi-disciplinary research in the design and adoption of self-managing technologies. Gerontechnology, 21(s),1-1
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2022.21.s.573.opp3