Exploring Barriers and Enablers for the Intention to Use Assistive Robotics Among People With Spinal Cord Injury and Those Involved in Their Care: Qualitative Study.
Susanne Frennert, Johanna Persson, Eva Díez-Rodríguez and 3 others
PMID 41701930WHAT IT FOUND
People with spinal cord injury hesitate to use assistive robotics due to fluctuating pain, high costs, and fear of looking "robotic." They prefer low-tech aids.
Enablers exist only if devices are simple, reliable, and discreet. Current designs often fail to meet these everyday needs.
Key findings
01Participants cited fluctuating pain, fatigue, and post-discharge transitions as barriers to investing energy in learning complex assistive robotics.
02Concerns about cost were shared by all stakeholder groups, with participants viewing advanced robotics as expensive and beyond the scope of subsidized care.
03Individuals with spinal cord injury feared social stigma, worrying that visible robotic limbs would reinforce perceptions of them as "different" or "too robotic."
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study did not control for time since injury, prior assistive technology use, or rehabilitation history, leading to a highly heterogeneous participant group. Participants expressed gratitude for taking part, which may have biased their responses toward more positive attitudes about the technology than they truly held. The use of the UTAUT framework to interpret findings may have foregrounded certain aspects of technology acceptance while overlooking others. The study explored intentions to use technologies that are not yet widely available, relying on hypothetical scenarios rather than long-term real-world usage data.
Declared interests
The work was partially supported by the European Union project HARIA. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a patient's expressed interest in robotics during a supervised workshop translates to actual adoption or satisfaction in daily life. The study found a "meaningfulness paradox" where participants desired independence but doubted the technology's practicality, reliability, and cost, often preferring simpler low-tech aids.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →