A systematic model for evaluating the patient aspects of health technologies

Abstract

Health technology assessment (HTA) is generally defined as a multidisciplinary research field that aims to produce objective knowledge for decision makers on the benefits, costs and harms of a technology. This paper describes an attempt to develop a systematic relational model for the evaluation of the patient aspects of health technologies, and in particular employs actor-network theory (ANT), with its emphasis on a non-linear innovation process, translations, co-production of technology and context and socio-material networks. It first considers the ontological and other presumptions of mainstream HTA and suggests an alternative relational ontology and approach. It then analyses the patient aspects of health technology by defining its scope and other issues that may provide a general framework for studying and evaluating the patient aspects of health technology. It then briefly discusses the implications of the relational approach in regard to the empirical practice of the whole HTA.

Telecare acceptance as sticky entrapment: A realist review

“…Telecare is complex and the context matters, which few approaches manage to cover sufficiently 6,7,9,10 . Hodder 45 emphasizes how humans and things depend on each other since they are relationally constructed.…”

“…HTA is used for assessing patients' acceptance of technology, however, critiqued because it appears to assume that the different effects of health technology may be studied objectively and context-free 9 . Koivisto et al 9 argue, on the contrary, that the context is important in assessing user acceptance of more complex technologies. HTA is assessed to be the least relevant model, and will not be discussed further in this paper.…”

“…Previous research raises several questions about the slow uptake and identifies users' acceptance of telecare to be a key issue [5][6][7][8] . Studies report that various technology acceptance models fall short when used for assessing telecare acceptance 6,9 . This literature review seeks to identify and illuminate perspectives that may improve the understanding of telecare acceptance at the individual level.…”

The HTA Core Model: A novel method for producing and reporting health technology assessments

“…The traditional diffusion model of the positivist research paradigm applies in defining and answering questions on clinical effectiveness, safety, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness. In contrast, the translational model of the interpretative research paradigm is more useful in mapping contextual factors, describing stakeholder experiences of ethical, organizational, and patient issues, and understanding barriers and facilitators of implementing technologies (14). Although transferability is a key characteristic of core information as defined by the HTA Core Model, implementation of any technology may require further translational data on environments where the technology will be used and on the people using it.…”