JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Sharing data from wearable health and activity trackers with others (e.g., health care providers, family, friends) may improve health and behavioral outcomes of wearable users by generating social support and supporting health self-management competency. Investigating individual factors that influence US adults’ willingness to share wearable data with different types of individuals may provide insights about population subgroups most or least likely to benefit from wearable interventions. Specifically, identifying digital health behaviors potentially associated with willingness to share wearable data is needed given that use and engagement with various technologies may broadly influence online health information-sharing behaviors.

Objective:

To identify sociodemographic, health, and digital health behavior correlates of US adults’ willingness to share wearable data with health care providers and with family or friends.

Methods:

Data for the analytic sample (N=1300) were obtained from the National Cancer Institute’s 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey. Digital health behavior measures included frequency of wearable use, use of smartphones or tablets to help communicate with providers, use of social networking sites to share health information, and participating in an online health community. Multivariable logistic regression analysis of weighted data examined associations between digital health behaviors and willingness to share wearable data, controlling for sociodemographics and health-related characteristics.

Results:

A majority of US adults were willing to share wearable data with providers (81.86%) and with family or friends (69.51%). Those who reported higher health self-efficacy (odds ratio [OR] 1.97, 95% CI 1.11, 3.51), higher level of trust in providers as a source of health information (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.12, 3.49), and higher level of physical activity (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.21, 3.31) had greater odds of reported willingness to share data with providers. Additionally, those with higher frequency of wearable use (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.35, 3.43) and reported use of smartphones or tablets to help communicate with providers (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.09, 3.63) had greater odds of reported willingness to share with providers. Only higher level of physical activity was associated with greater odds of reported willingness to share wearable data with family or friends (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.02, 2.84).

Conclusions:

Findings of this study suggest that, among US adult wearable users, behavior-related factors, rather than sociodemographic characteristics, are key drivers of willingness to share health information from wearables with others. Moreover, behavioral correlates of willingness to share wearable data are unique to the type of recipient (i.e., providers vs. family or friends). Future studies could use these findings to inform development of interventions that aim to improve use of patient-generated data from wearable devices in health care settings, in particular.