Supporting Design for User Acceptance of Health Technologies from a Macro-Temporal Perspective

Abstract

User acceptance is key for the successful uptake and use of health technologies, but also impacted by numerous factors not always easily accessible nor operationalised by designers in practice. This work seeks to facilitate the application of acceptance theory in design practice through the Technology Acceptance (TAC) toolkit: a novel theory-based design tool and method comprising 16 cards, 3 personas, 3 scenarios, a virtual think-space, and a website, which we evaluated through workshops conducted with 21 designers of health technologies. Findings showed that the toolkit revised and extended designers’ knowledge of technology acceptance, fostered their appreciation, empathy and ethical values while designing for acceptance, and contributed towards shaping their future design practice. We discuss implications for considering user acceptance a dynamic, multi-stage process in design practice, and better support- ing designers in imagining distant acceptance challenges. Finally, we examine the generative value of the TAC toolkit and its possible future evolution.