“Enchanting” Jewellery: Reimagining Wearable Gerontechnology for Acceptance & Meaningful Adoption by Older Adults

Contributing to the broader efforts to support healthy ageing and extend healthy life expectancy through technology, this dissertation investigates how to increase the persistently low initial acceptance and improve subsequent long-term adoption of wearable technology by ageing women. Drawing on a multidisciplinary theoretical foundation, it explores whether reimagining wearable devices as digital jewellery, selected to be age-inclusive and experientially meaningful, can enhance acceptance and stimulate sustained use. To answer this, the research integrates knowledge from Gerontechnology, HCI, and CMC with Relational Psychology, Identity Theory, Fashion Theory and Consumer Research. It further employs a mixed-methods approach grounded in Experience-Centered Design. The empirical work includes two systematic reviews and six studies. Findings reveal that older women significantly prefer wearable devices that resemble jewellery over techno-centric gadgets, and that aesthetic appeal substantially outweighs the importance of functionality in decisions around acceptance and regular use. The research also confirms the importance of designing inclusive age-friendly systems and highlights the role of relationship maintenance and health monitoring in experiential meaningfulness. This dissertation makes several original contributions. First, it advances our understanding of attitudes towards wearables among women over 60, demonstrating that identity alignment and aesthetics are central to acceptance, and introducing design interventions that significantly improve the adoption of devices over time. Second, it bridges literature from previously disconnected fields, establishing a foundation for future interdisciplinary research. Third, it offers new insights into how wearable technologies can support relationship maintenance across diverse relational dyads of loved-ones. Additionally, the thesis strengthens conceptual links between wearables and jewellery, validates the metaphor of "enchantment" for technology design, provides a taxonomy and critique of jewellery-like wearables, presents a model for in-the-wild longitudinal deployment of technology with underrepresented user groups, and suggests a number of actionable measures for future developments in the related fields. KEYWORDS AgeTech, mHealth, assistive technology, smart jewelry, inclusive design, technology acceptance, adornment, material culture, attachment theory, fashion technology