A recent study by Wolfgang Aschauer, Christopher Etter, and Florian Nemetz (WU Vienna), titled “The Acceptance of Virtual Healthcare Assistants in the DACH Region: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach,” has been published in the renowned journal Technology in Society (Impact Factor: 12.5). In collaboration with nursing scientists Patrick Kutschar and Jürgen Osterbrink (PMU), the team examined the acceptance of AI-based healthcare assistants in the German-speaking region.

Key findings: The acceptance of such technologies is strongly linked to general technological readiness. However, this readiness is unevenly distributed across the DACH region and is, for instance, more pronounced among higher-status groups. In addition, respondents with higher subjective well-being tend to be somewhat more skeptical, possibly due to a lower perceived need.

The study highlights the importance of reducing digital inequalities for the future of healthcare and provides valuable insights for public health research.

Access the paper:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103332