A Qualitative Study About Users Becoming Non-users

Abboud, Toni Joseph

4. term

Techno-Anthropology, Master

2019

2019-06-07

56 pages

Denne opgave tager udgangspunkt i hvordan bruger af teknologier bliver til ikke-bruger. Opgaven er lavet i samarbejde med Rehfeld Medical som har udviklet en app til pacemaker patienter, hvor opgaven belyser hvorfor brugerne bliver til ikke-bruger. Opgaven gør brug af Don Ihde og Peter-Paul Verbeeks meditation teori som sætter fokus på relationer mellem mennesker, teknologier og verden. Derudover bliver der præsenteret en ny teori ved navn problematic mediation som jeg har udviklet. Denne problematisk mediation tager udgangspunkt i problematiske relationer mellem mennesker, teknologier og verden. Problemformulering for denne opgave er: Hvorfor er SCAUT app brugerne ved at blive ikke-bruger. Hvordan kan meditations teorien belyse relation mellem appen og hospitalet og hvordan kan brugen af problematisk mediation fremme en bedre forståelse af problemerne i relationerne. Metoden for belysning af problemformulering var ved udførelse af interviews med 17 patienter. Der derefter blev transskriberet og kodet i programmet Nvivo. Dette var med til at belyse hvilken kategorier patienterne identificerede som årsagen til at blive ikke-bruger af appen. Der kan konkluderes at appen mediere forskellige relationer mellem patienten og hospitalet. Derudover kan der også konkluderes at der forekommer en problematisk relation mellem patient, appen og hospitalet grundet en ikke færdig udviklet app.

Background: Telecare technologies have throughout the years been implemented in different settings and are now a huge part of the healthcare system. This project investigates how technology can mediate the experience of pacemaker patients, thus understanding the relation between humans, technology and the world. Methods: This master thesis was made in collaboration with the company Rehfeld Medical, which develops an app for pacemaker patients. The study was conducted with the appliance of ethnographic interviews. I conducted 17 interviews with non-users of the app from February 2019 until June 2019. The purpose of using the semi structured interviews was to gain a patient insight of how the relation to technology has mediated the experience to the hospital. By applying ethnographic methods I produced insights into how the relation of the technology was mediated through the patient experience. Results: The study shows that the technology was experienced in different ways, depending on individual experiences with the app. The usage of Don Ihde and Peter-Paul Verbeek's mediation theory aided to the understanding of the relations between the patients, the technology and the hospital. Furthermore, the results also indicate that some of those relations were problematic. As a result of these indications I have developed the outset of a new theory called problematic mediation. Conclusion: I conclude that the technology is mediating different experiences for the patients, and help shaping the relation between the individual patient and the hospital. In addition I conclude that these relations can be problematic which affects the perception of the hospital by the patients. As the perception changes the patients start becoming non-users of the technology this results in a non-existing interaction.

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