Selective adoption of therapeutic devices among people with type 1 diabetes

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to the debate regarding the adoption/rejection of technologies by focusing on the selective use of therapeutic devices among people with type 1 diabetes. I show that patients often refuse to use a device (either insulin pumps or sensors for glycaemic control), despite suggestions from diabetologists. The study was conducted in Italy in 2019. Theoretically, the paper relied on a perspective that amalgamates actor-network theory and postphenomenology around the key concept of multistability. I then detected the three main features of stabilities that explain device use/non-use: relation to embodied users, contextual embedment (within larger social assemblages), concrete tailoring. Findings helped to stress the relevance of not only focusing on the type of device and its technical functioning, but also unveiling the underlying ongoing and situated socio-technical processes. Selective adoption of devices should be investigated at the level of the whole patient-device assemblage in order to assess the diverse stabilities that may arise from such networks.

KEYWORDS:

• Therapeutic devices
• postphenomenology
• actor-network theory
• embodiment
• diabetes
• selective adoption

Acknowledgments

The study was financed by an independent foundation, Fondazione Dott. Carlo Fornasini, with a one-year-long research fellowship. The funder had no influence over study design, data collection, analysis or preparation of the manuscript. The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their stimulating and thoughtful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study was financed by an independent foundation, Fondazione Dott. Carlo Fornasini, with a one-year-long research fellowship.