Patient Acceptance and Barriers Factors in IoT Utilization in Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The Internet of Things (IoT) has opened new paradigms in the digital transformation of the healthcare sector, offering significant potential to enhance quality of care, accessibility, and healthcare system efficiency. However, the successful implementation of healthcare IoT technology highly dependent on patient acceptance as end users. OBJECTIVE This study aims to identify factors influencing patient acceptance of IoT technology in healthcare services through a comprehensive systematic literature review. METHODS This systematic literature review employs the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 protocol with systematic searches across eight electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, ACM Digital Library, ProQuest, and Google Scholar) for publications published between 2016-2024. Inclusion criteria encompassed studies examining patient perspectives on healthcare IoT in Indonesian or English that had gone through peer-review processes. RESULTS From 2,537 articles identified through comprehensive searches, 62 studies met inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Key factors influencing patient acceptance included perceived usefulness in 89% of studies, perceived ease of use in 76% of studies, trust and security in 68% of studies, and cost effectiveness in 52% of studies. Main barriers identified were data security concerns in 41.9% of studies, privacy issues in 38.7% of studies, lack of digital literacy in 35.5% of studies, and resistance to change in 32.3% of studies. CONCLUSIONS IoT acceptance in healthcare represents a complex phenomenon requiring holistic approaches involving user-centered technology design, supportive policies, and contextual implementation considering demographic, geographic, and cultural variations to achieve sustainable adoption. With multi-level and integrated approaches, IoT has the potential to transform healthcare services to become more proactive, personalized, and patient-centered. Findings from this SLR have implications for policy and practice including the need for harmonious regulatory frameworks, comprehensive infrastructure strategies by healthcare organizations, and user-centered design approaches by technology developers.