Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
In recent years the literature that has examined wearable technology has grown exponentially. Healthcare is a field in which numerous studies involving wearable technologies and occupational health have been conducted due to its critical and demanding nature. Wearable devices provide many advantages for research, including offering objective physiological data that can support efforts to better understand and improve the well-being of healthcare professionals. Our research team conducted a literature review of 20 peer-reviewed articles related to wearable technology in healthcare. Online databases (e.g., PsycInfo, Google Scholar) were utilized to collect studies that examined a variety of devices and measures such as heart rate variability, sleep, and stress. Data extracted from the articles included participant demographics, type of wearable device, and occupational health outcomes studied. This information was synthesized to evaluate the current state of research and identify areas for future development. The goal is to provide researchers and practitioners with practical and effective ways to incorporate wearables into future research. Common themes that arose, and will be discussed more thoroughly in the poster, include the prevalence of heart rate variability and sleep quality/duration as physiological measures most commonly collected. These measures were frequently linked to stress and burnout, demonstrating the potential of wearables to connect physiological functioning with psychological well-being. At the same time, several limitations emerged. Studies highlighted the inaccuracy of wearable data in capturing mental health states and noted compliance challenges as healthcare workers often found it difficult to wear devices consistently throughout their workday. Based on our findings, we suggest that future research should focus on improving the integration of wearable data with validated self-report measures. This would allow researchers to better capture complex variables such as stress, burnout, and cognitive performance. Additionally, enhancing device usability and minimizing participant burden are essential to improving data quality and reducing attrition. Further work is also needed to address issues related to algorithm validation, transparency, and cost to ensure that wearable technologies are both reliable and accessible. Wearable technology offers promising opportunities to advance occupational health research in healthcare. By addressing current limitations and refining how data are collected and integrated, future studies can position wearables as powerful tools to support the well-being of healthcare professionals. This project is partially supported by the Clemson University Creative Inquiry program.
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
The Pulse of Progress: A Review on Wearable Technology in Healthcare
In recent years the literature that has examined wearable technology has grown exponentially. Healthcare is a field in which numerous studies involving wearable technologies and occupational health have been conducted due to its critical and demanding nature. Wearable devices provide many advantages for research, including offering objective physiological data that can support efforts to better understand and improve the well-being of healthcare professionals. Our research team conducted a literature review of 20 peer-reviewed articles related to wearable technology in healthcare. Online databases (e.g., PsycInfo, Google Scholar) were utilized to collect studies that examined a variety of devices and measures such as heart rate variability, sleep, and stress. Data extracted from the articles included participant demographics, type of wearable device, and occupational health outcomes studied. This information was synthesized to evaluate the current state of research and identify areas for future development. The goal is to provide researchers and practitioners with practical and effective ways to incorporate wearables into future research. Common themes that arose, and will be discussed more thoroughly in the poster, include the prevalence of heart rate variability and sleep quality/duration as physiological measures most commonly collected. These measures were frequently linked to stress and burnout, demonstrating the potential of wearables to connect physiological functioning with psychological well-being. At the same time, several limitations emerged. Studies highlighted the inaccuracy of wearable data in capturing mental health states and noted compliance challenges as healthcare workers often found it difficult to wear devices consistently throughout their workday. Based on our findings, we suggest that future research should focus on improving the integration of wearable data with validated self-report measures. This would allow researchers to better capture complex variables such as stress, burnout, and cognitive performance. Additionally, enhancing device usability and minimizing participant burden are essential to improving data quality and reducing attrition. Further work is also needed to address issues related to algorithm validation, transparency, and cost to ensure that wearable technologies are both reliable and accessible. Wearable technology offers promising opportunities to advance occupational health research in healthcare. By addressing current limitations and refining how data are collected and integrated, future studies can position wearables as powerful tools to support the well-being of healthcare professionals. This project is partially supported by the Clemson University Creative Inquiry program.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology