Wearable tech refers to seamlessly embedded portable technology worn on the body, enabling individuals to monitor and control their own lives (Mishra, Mishra, Tripathy & Dutta, 2020). Examples include consumer products marketed as wellness gadgets such as smartwatches produced by Apple or activity trackers sold by Fitbit as well as more specialized medical devices such as electrolyte levels monitors or screeners for cancer cells.
As a result of their versatility, wearables have become popular in many sectors including lifestyle, sports and fitness, and health care. In the latter, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted their usefulness as a means of remotely monitoring individuals to facilitate self-management and support their engagement with health care services.
To maximize the potential for consumer wearables to empower users, they must be designed to be user-friendly and incorporate features that promote motivational support, including positive reinforcement of achievements along with encouragement for those struggling to meet their goals. In addition, barriers to use need to be addressed, such as technical difficulties, lack of personalized advice, and privacy concerns.
The literature review presented in this paper uses a scoping review methodology to identify, analyze, and synthesize knowledge to answer the research question of how do consumer wearables empower users? A total of 3 key themes emerged: Benefits and Involvement, Behavior Change, and Barriers to Use. These are summarized in Multimedia Appendix 6. The full text of this article is available online at the Wiley Online Library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1758-5906.12503/full.