Attitudes of support people: a key element when implementing technologies for people with intellectual and visual disabilities.
Lotte Piekema, Annet Ten Brug, Aly Waninge and 1 others
PMID 39113576WHAT IT FOUND
Support people’s attitude predicted their intention to use technology more strongly than how easy they thought it was.
This held regardless of the person’s level of support needs. Older support people had less positive attitudes, but age itself did not predict intention once attitude was considered.
Key findings
01Attitude was the strongest predictor of intention to use technology, explaining 56.8% of the variance, while effort expectancy explained only 12.1%.
02Effort expectancy influenced intention only indirectly through attitude; the direct link between ease of use and intention was not significant.
03The level of support needs of the person with disabilities did not affect support people’s attitude or intention to use technology.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used a convenience sample from a single Dutch organisation, limiting generalisability. Self-reported intention to use technology does not guarantee actual use. The questionnaire was not co-developed with relatives, which may have affected the relevance of items for this group. 127 participants were excluded due to incomplete responses, introducing potential response bias. The sample was imbalanced, with many more healthcare professionals than relatives, and more women than men.
Declared interests
The work was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that making a technology easier to use will automatically increase its adoption. The study found that perceived ease of use only influenced intention through the support person’s attitude, meaning that addressing negative attitudes or resistance is more critical than simplifying the interface alone.