Understanding Users’ Health Information Privacy Concerns for Health Wearables

Abstract

Health information privacy concerns (HIPC) are commonly cited as primary barrier to the ongoing growth of health wearables (HW) for private users. However, little is known about the driving factors of HIPC and the nature of users’ privacy perception. Seven semi-structured focus groups with current users of HWs were conducted to empirically explore factors driving users’ HIPC. Based on an iterative thematic analysis approach, where the interview codes were systematically matched with literature, I develop a thematic map that visualizes the privacy perception of HW users. In particular this map uncovers three central factors (Dilemma of Forced Acceptance, State-Trait Data Sensitivity and Transparency) on HIPC, which HW users have to deal with.