On the track of COVID-19: tracing apps from the population's perspective
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, options for treatment, support and monitoring are also being further developed. The latest developments relate to coronavirus apps or COVID-19 tracing apps. Among other things, these apps are designed to specifically record symptoms in order to provide individualised information about infected people in the vicinity and appropriate recommendations for action. But what is the attitude and willingness of the population to use such apps? Samuel Tomczyk from the Chair of Health and Prevention at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Greifswald investigated this question in a population survey.
A number of expert reports on tracing apps are now available. These sometimes provide complex and very different recommendations for technical implementation and market launch - however, there is broad agreement on the potential benefits of widespread implementation.
However, little is known about the current attitude and willingness of the population to use such apps. It is also unclear what concerns exist with regard to data protection or data security, for example. Against this background, the COVID-19 Tracing Apps (COVA) survey conducted by the Chair of Health and Prevention aims to provide important information.
Publication
Tomczyk, S., Barth, S., Schmidt, S., & Muehlan, H. (2021). Utilizing Health Behavior Change and Technology Acceptance Models to Predict the Adoption of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: Cross-sectional Survey Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.2196/25447