Karlina Grivina

Riga Stradins University, Latvia

Title: The Role of Community in Individual Well-being Self-assessment: A Wearable Technology Case Study in Physical Activities

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Biography

Karlina Grivina is a first-year sociology PHD student at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Riga Stradins University. She received a bachelor's and master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Latvia and a Master's of Arts in Humanities (Semiotics) from Tartu University. For the last decade, her research has explored the use of technology in Latvia from a user-centred perspective, highlighting the challenges individuals face. She is interested in the role of technologies, people's well-being, mixed research methodologies, and the role of the community in people's life course.

Abstract

Despite efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle, Latvia has some of the lowest health indicator results in the European Union, including healthy life expectancy and overall life satisfaction. The healthy life expectancy figures are especially alarming for the retirement-age population. This clearly illustrates that there is a pressing need for new solutions allowing society to transition towards more healthy lifestyles and a need to improve mechanisms motivating individuals to follow their health and overall well-being.

This research addresses the challenges of obtaining well-being by exploring ways in which middle-aged individuals engage with wearable technologies. More particularly, the research aims to identify social practices in communities that motivate people in Latvia to participate and continue physical activities while using wearable technologies and to analyze how these practices change the self-perceived well-being of individuals. Research also seeks to illuminate the drawbacks and challenges people face while engaging with others in their physical practices. It is part of the doctoral thesis and currently the methodological and conceptual part of the study is being developed.

The research adapts the qualitative critical companionship approach. This approach is used for semi structured qualitative interviews combined with online diaries following how relations between individual, community, and wearable technologies affect their well-being.

The expected result will provide information on the role of the community in the self-evaluation of individual well-being. Success factors will be identified for continuing physical activities with wearable technologies and their sharing practices with others. Meanwhile, the challenges of this process will provide the factors to be improved or avoided to activate individuals for a healthy lifestyle through physical activities.