Development of a Validation and Inspection Tool for Armband-based Lifelog data (VITAL) to facilitate the clinical use of wearable health data: A prototype and usability evaluation.

Abstract

The growing use of wearable devices has expanded the availability of health-related data. However, despite their potential to support clinical decision making, excessive data volume, inefficient processing systems, limited interoperability, and concerns regarding data quality continue to hinder their practical use in clinical settings. To advance the clinical utilization of wearable health data, we developed the Validation and Inspection Tool for Armband-based Lifelog data (VITAL), a pipeline for data integration, visualization, and quality management, and evaluated its usability. The development of VITAL followed a structured process comprising requirement gathering, system implementation, and usability evaluation. System requirements were identified through interviews with four clinicians. Wearable health data were collected from Samsung, Apple, Fitbit, and Xiaomi devices and integrated into a standardized dataframe at 10-minute intervals. The prototype focused on three core domains: physical activity, biometrics, and sleep. Data quality was operationalized using quantifiable metrics for completeness, recency, and plausibility to enable systematic evaluation. VITAL provides interactive visualization and integrated data quality management functions. Usability testing was conducted through individual interviews with seven clinicians, who completed task-based evaluations and a Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) survey. All participants successfully completed the assigned tasks with minimal errors. The UTAUT results indicated favorable user acceptance, with mean scores of 4.20 for performance expectancy, 3.96 for effort expectancy, and 4.14 for intention to use. Interviews further highlighted strengths in visualization and usability, while also suggesting interface simplification and the inclusion of additional clinical data types, such as electrocardiograms and dietary information. VITAL demonstrated the feasibility of harmonizing, visualizing, and evaluating wearable health data for clinical use. These findings suggest that the tool is practical and valuable for supporting clinical workflows, warranting further large-scale studies to validate its effectiveness in real-world settings.