Enhancing patient healthcare experience: A systematic review of emotional design in medical devices

Medical devices hold significant potential to influence patients' emotional experiences, thereby enhancing treatment compliance and healthcare efficacy. However, the impact of medical device design on patient emotions is largely underexplored. Drawing upon the Double Diamond Model and Gross’s Emotion Regulation Theory, this systematic review categorises the interdisciplinary innovation process of emotional design in medical devices into three stages: exploration, elaboration, and evaluation. This 3E framework serves as the key analytical tool for this study, providing a systematic interpretation of existing research across three dimensions: emotions and emotional needs, design strategies, and evaluation methods. This pre-registered systematic review follows PRISMA 2020 guidelines, analysing 71 studies (initial sample size = 11 461) published between 1986 and February 2024. The review identifies 25 positive and 31 negative emotions experienced by patients and underscores the importance of further exploring the design space for positive emotions. The review also incorporates Emotion Regulation Theory to provide deeper insights into emotional design strategies, categorising these strategies into five major types and identifying future interdisciplinary development trends. Current evaluation methods predominantly rely on interviews and questionnaires. There are insufficient robust quantitative tools that can capture nuanced product-related emotions. To improve patient well-being and enhance societal quality of life, further research into the emotional design of medical devices is urgently needed, necessitating a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach.