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Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research

Date Submitted: Sep 4, 2023
Date Accepted: Oct 26, 2023

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Use of Consumer Wearables in Health Research: Issues and Considerations

Dobson R, Stowell M, Warren J, Tane T, Ni L, Gu Y, McCool J, Whittaker R

Use of Consumer Wearables in Health Research: Issues and Considerations

J Med Internet Res 2023;25:e52444

DOI: 10.2196/52444

PMID: 37988147

PMCID: 10698659

The use of consumer wearables in health research: Issues and considerations

  • Rosie Dobson; 
  • Melanie Stowell; 
  • Jim Warren; 
  • Taria Tane; 
  • Lin Ni; 
  • Yulong Gu; 
  • Judith McCool; 
  • Robyn Whittaker

ABSTRACT

As wearable devices, which allow individuals to track and self-manage their health, become more ubiquitous, the opportunities are growing for researchers to utilise these sensors within interventions and data collection. They offer access to data that are captured continuously, passively, and pragmatically with minimal user burden providing huge advantages for health research. But the growth in their use must be coupled with consideration of their potential limitations, in particular, digital inclusion, data availability, privacy, ethics of third-party involvement, data quality, and potential for adverse consequences. In this paper, we discuss these issues and strategies used to prevent or mitigate them, and recommendations for researchers using wearables as part of interventions or for data collection.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Dobson R, Stowell M, Warren J, Tane T, Ni L, Gu Y, McCool J, Whittaker R

Use of Consumer Wearables in Health Research: Issues and Considerations

J Med Internet Res 2023;25:e52444

DOI: 10.2196/52444

PMID: 37988147

PMCID: 10698659

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