Study purposeIt is important to understand the users' perceptions toward the use of smartwatches and the various factors that affect the adoption of smart watches. These findings would contribute to the literature in understanding users' usage, preferences, needs, and expectations about smartwatches that would aid smartwatches designers and also decision-makers in integrating the smartwatch technology in various service-enabled areas such a healthcare, e-learning etc. To address this gap, the objective of this study was formulated to understand the actual consumers' perceptions of toward the use of smartwatches and explore the critical factors affecting the adoption and intention to use smartwatches in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was designed to assess the actual perception of use smartwatches and to investigate the influencing factors that affect the utilization among Saudi population using the survey technique. Questionnaire design was based on the domains of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to determine the factors affecting smartwatches utilization. The sample composed of Saudi Arabian residents aged 18 years and above. The response rate for the online questionnaire that was distributed through the social media applications was 58.61% representing 135 participants. The data was collected in November 2020 and analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Software Sciences (SPSS).ResultsThe prevalence of participants who had knowledge about smartwatch was 94.1%. When comparing the demographic characteristics between those owning and not owning a smartwatch, it was found that educational level (X2 = 9.365; p = 0.025) and knowledge about smartwatch (X2 = 7.897; p = 0.005) had significant relationship with owning a smartwatch. When comparing between design aesthetic, perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and healthology in relation to the socio demographic characteristics, it was found that respondents in the older age group (≥45 years) (F = 11.797; p <0.001) and those with master degree (F = 3.449; p = 0.002) observed to have significantly lower mean score in design aesthetic while females exhibited significantly higher score in perceived enjoyment and healthology (T = −3.629; p = 0.001) as well as design aesthetic (T = −2.070; p = 0.043).ConclusionFactors such as age, education, gender, income can significantly affect the adoption of wearable devices in Saudi Arabia.

(1) Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the patient experience with the Mawid application during the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. (2) Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was designed to evaluate the patient experience with the Mawid app during the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. A total of 146 respondents completed the questionnaire. (3) Results: More than half of the participants (65.8%) opined that application was easy to use. Furthermore, 65.1% of the participants considered it to be very easy and easy to search for the required information; and 63.7% of the respondents reflected that it was easy to book an appointment. There was a statistically significant difference between the ease of searching for the required information (p-value = 0.006); the ease of undoing an unwanted move and gender (p-value = 0.049); the ease of searching for the required information and educational level (p-value = 0.048); the ease of booking an appointment and educational level (p = 0.049); and the ease of searching for the required information and the labor sector of the respondents (p value= 0.049) among the genders. No significant differences were identified among the age groups. (4) Conclusions: Overall, most participants suggested that the Mawid app was easy to use and had a potentially useful set of features to help mitigate and manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia.

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Objectives: The study aims to explore individual's QoL during COVID-19’s imposed partial curfew in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 1353 adult participants completed the World Health Organization Quality of Life - BREF online questionnaire during COVID-19’s imposed curfew. Pearson correlation and one-way ANOVA was conducted to examine the association between the QoL domains, and to examine the association between the QoL domains and sociodemographic characteristics, respectively. Results: The findings showed that social and environmental QoL were the most affected by the pandemic. Sociodemographic characteristics played a role in shaping differences in QoL among the four dimensions of QoL. Men, non-Saudis, private sector employees, and people with income below SAR5,000 reported the lowest QoL. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic changed people’s lives, their activities and relationships. It affected their QoL in different dimensions and based on specific sociodemographic characteristics. The study findings have implications for policymakers to tailor programs that focus on the different aspects of QoL including social, environmental, physical and psychological domains.