Addressing privacy concerns for mobile and wearable devices sensors: Small-group interviews with healthy adults and cancer survivors

OBJECTIVE: Mobile and wearable sensor technology is increasingly common and accessible. The aim of this study was to explore individuals' perceptions and acceptability of mobile and wearable sensors, as well as concerns. METHODS: Purposive sampling was used to recruit non-patient adults (n = 22) and cancer survivors (n = 17) for face-to-face and virtual small-group interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis of the data focused on privacy concerns. RESULTS: Participants reported that privacy was generally not a concern for sensor adoptions for physical activity health interventions except for health insurer access. CONCLUSION: The patient perspectives as reported in the findings illustrate the need for transparency between potential adopters and users of mobile and wearable devices and health care practitioners, as well as secure privacy policies for health insurers. INNOVATION: Older adults often are perceived as unwilling to adopt mHealth technologies for many reasons, including privacy concerns. This study examined an important patient population, cancer survivors, who are often overlooked yet may benefit from targeted health interventions using mHealth technologies, and compared their responses with a non-patient population for prevention purposes. Our findings suggest that one's lived health experiences (cancer survivorship) are more influential than one's age in adopting mHealth technologies.