The feasibility and acceptability of digital technology for health and wellbeing

Academic poster with accompanying audio, by Tim Walker, Sarah Buckingham, Karyn Morrissey

Introduction

• Digital technology (such as smartphone applications, wearable activity monitors, and virtual assistants inter alia) provides an appealing, accessible, scalable, and low cost tool to promote health and wellbeing (Baker et al. 2018; Muellman et al. 2018). However, the evidence is far from established.

• The Smartline project aims to explore the role that digital technology may play in increasing physical activity and social connectedness in social housing residents from low socioeconomic status communities in Cornwall.

• Social housing residents in rural areas are a unique population that is likely to have much to gain from access to and use of digital technology, but may be disproportionately affected by the digital divide.

• Existing barriers identified include functional (such as access to technology), physical (such as health issues) and attitudinal barriers (Neves et al. 2013).

Conclusions

• In the diverse group of Smartline participants, there is a need and desire to use digital technology to improve heath, wellbeing and social connectedness.

• Acceptability (adoption and use) of the technology rests on a complex interplay of social, attitudinal, knowledge, and usability factors.

• Barriers may be overcome with increased awareness, training, and provision of a ‘digital buddy’.

This poster was presented at the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health online conference in September 2020.