Consumer engagement with preventive health technologies: a double-edged sword for consumer wellbeing

Although preventive health technologies are commonly considered as enhancing consumer wellbeing, little is known about their unintended consequences. This paper explores the relationship between consumer engagement (CE) with preventive health technologies and wellbeing, to best understand when engagement is beneficial—versus detrimental—to consumer wellbeing. A thematic analysis of 30 in-depth interviews with users of such technologies reveal that (1) consumers engage with preventive health technologies based on a variety of health goals, (2) specific engagement trajectories result from those contrasting consumer health goals, and (3) the beneficial versus detrimental role of CE with preventive health technologies in consumer wellbeing is conditioned by the type of trajectories consumers engage in. This paper proposes a nuanced perspective by demonstrating that CE with preventive health technologies can be considered a double-edged sword for consumer wellbeing. While these technologies can support healthy routines, they can also lead to maladaptive behavior through over-engagement.