Attitudes of healthcare professionals and researchers toward wearable and app derived patient generated health data
Stefanie Brückner, Olamide Sadare, Sabrina Fesl, Madlen Scheibe, Caroline Lang, Stephen Gilbert
Abstract
Patient-generated health data (PGHD) from apps and wearables hold significant potential for enhancing personalised care and medical research. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are key to its successful adoption, as their attitudes can either support or hinder its integration into clinical practice. This review systematically analysed studies on HCPs' and researchers' perspectives on PGHD for clinical and research use. Three databases were searched for articles published between January 2013 and April 2023. Of 246 articles screened, 33 met the inclusion criteria. While most participants viewed PGHD positively, concerns around data security, reliability, and workflow integration persist. Addressing these barriers is essential to maximising PGHD's benefits for participatory medicine and improved clinical outcomes. The included studies presented medium methodological quality, particularly among quantitative and mixed methods with risks of sampling and nonresponse bias, and often low sample sizes in qualitative studies. However, recurring themes across studies allow a valuable interpretation of the findings.