Establishing a Global Standard for Wearable Devices in Sport and Exercise Medicine: Perspectives from Academic and Industry Stakeholders.

Millions of consumer sport and fitness wearables (CSFWs) are used worldwide, and millions of datapoints are generated by each device. Moreover, these numbers are rapidly growing, and they contain a heterogeneity of devices, data types, and contexts for data collection. Companies and consumers would benefit from guiding standards on device quality and data formats. To address this growing need, we convened a virtual panel of industry and academic stakeholders, and this manuscript summarizes the outcomes of the discussion. Our objectives were to identify (1) key facilitators of and barriers to participation by CSFW manufacturers in guiding standards and (2) stakeholder priorities. The venues were the Yale Center for Biomedical Data Science Digital Health Monthly Seminar Series (62 participants) and the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting (59 participants). In the discussion, stakeholders outlined both facilitators of (e.g., commercial return on investment in device quality, lucrative research partnerships, and transparent and multilevel evaluation of device quality) and barriers (e.g., competitive advantage conflict, lack of flexibility in previously developed devices) to participation in guiding standards. There was general agreement to adopt Keadle et al.'s standard pathway for testing devices (i.e., benchtop, laboratory, field-based, implementation) without consensus on the prioritization of these steps. Overall, there was enthusiasm not to add prescriptive or regulatory steps, but instead create a networking hub that connects companies to consumers and researchers for flexible guidance navigating the heterogeneity, multi-tiered development, dynamicity, and nebulousness of the CSFW field.

Older women's perceptions of wearable and smart home activity sensors.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to characterize perceptions of wearable and smart home technologies of older women using semi-structured interviews.Methods and Procedures: Participants (n = 10) were shown two wearable sensors and a smart home sensor. All participants were 60 years of age or older with the exception of one participant (ages: 57-70,average age: 64.6 years). Sensor function and placement were explained. Participants were asked questions about technology, perceptions of sensors, and thoughts about the use of these types of sensors. Interview transcripts were analyzed to identify themes related to technology acceptance, perceived usefulness, and privacy issues.Main Outcome and Results: Participants perceived wearable and smart home sensors as acceptable for personal activity data collection. In general, wearable sensors were perceived as more useful than smart home sensors because most participants had high levels of activities outside their homes. Participants had few concerns about data sharing. Privacy issues related to perceived risk for break-ins or unwanted disclosure of activity levels.Conclusion: Given the higher proportion of women over men in the older adult population, and some of the aging-related health risks that women face, it is important to understand older women's perceptions of different types of sensor technologies.