Technology acceptance among adults undergoing joint replacement surgery for conducting home assessments: A qualitative feasibility study for a technology-based home assessment tool (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Most adults prefer to age-in-place. However, the majority of homes are not designed to support resident needs, specially of adults undergoing joint replacement surgeries such as total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA). It is of paramount importance to proactively assess and modify the homes of adults undergoing TKA/THA such that they can safely transition home following surgery. There are several tools that utilize emerging technology like virtual reality, augmented reality, or teleconferencing to assess home environments. These are meant to be used by professionals like occupational therapists. However, the acceptance and uptake of simple technology like phone applications for assessing homes proactively by residents has not been explored. OBJECTIVE A qualitative exploratory study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility and potential acceptance of technology as well as identify recommendations based on expectations of adults for development of a technology-based resident-initiated home assessment tool. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 patient-care partner dyads before and after THA/TKA. The technology acceptance model (TAM) was used as a framework to understand the perceived usefulness, intention to use technology-based home assessment tools, as well as perceived barriers and facilitators of using of the tool. RESULTS About 68% of the patient-care partner dyads interviewed for this study perceived benefits of using a technology-based tool. All the participants who perceived the tool to be beneficial, showed positive behavioral intention of using it. A comparison of responses between pre- and post-surgery interviews revealed that around 50% of participants showed increased intention of using an assessment tool after experiencing challenges in their homes post-surgery. Participants provided recommendations for key content, potential features to include in the assessment tool, and preferred formats (e.g., checklists, visuals, and videos). CONCLUSIONS To increase acceptance of a technology-based home assessment tool, it is crucial that residents are made aware of the home environment challenges and the importance of an assessment tool to improve their safety and independence. The content, features, formats, and usability suggestions from the participants in this study provide a framework for health mobile application and interface developers to design a technology-based home assessment tool.