Acceptance problems of ambient intelligence and mobile technologies in hospitals in India and Germany

Abstract

Ambient intelligence systems facilitate job performance by medical staff in health care services. Several papers detail scenarios in which these technologies may support clinicians in their daily work processes, but their specific characteristics suggest such technologies also could be useful for surveillance and subsequent control of employees. Until now, only little attention has focused on resolving such issues. On the basis of 16 in-depth interviews with medical staff from three German hospitals, this study identifies a reserved attitude and several acceptance problems among interviewees. The qualitative data indicate 10 hypotheses, tested using a questionnaire study of 215 nurses in training from Germany and India. The investigation of the quantitative data relies on partial least squares modeling to identify and categorise problems with user acceptance of ambient intelligence and mobile systems on various levels. The results of this mixed methods study mainly indicate that German participants assess ambient intelligence much more critically. Consequently, specific strategies for implementing such technologies should be adopted.