Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 7, 2019
Date Accepted: Apr 24, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
TechPH - An instrument for measuring older people’s attitudes towards technology
ABSTRACT
Background:
Both usability and acceptance of a specific technology or service are important factors in evaluating the impact of a HIT intervention. Psychometric measures are seldom included in evaluation of health technology. However, basic attitudes and sentiments towards technology, e.g. technophilia, could be argued to influence both the level of satisfaction with the technology itself, as well as the perception and acceptance of the health intervention outcome.
Objective:
The purpose of this study is to develop a reduced and refined instrument for measuring older people's attitudes and enthusiasm for technology based on relevant existing instruments for measuring technophilia. A requirement on the new instrument is that it should be short and simple to make it usable also for evaluation of health technology for older people with mild cognitive impairments and normal aging cognitive decline.
Methods:
Initial items for the TechPH questionnaire were drawn from a content analysis of relevant existing technophilia measure instruments. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted in a random selection of persons 65 years or older (n=374) on 8 initial items. The scale was reduced to 6 items and the internal consistency and reliability of the scale was examined. Further validation was made by a confirmatory factor analysis.
Results:
The exploratory factor analysis resulted in 2 factors. These factors were analyzed and labeled “TechEnthusiasm” and “TechAnxiety” and demonstrated relatively good internal consistency (Cronbach alphas .72 and .68). The factors were confirmed in the CFA and showed good model fit (Chi2 = 21.2, df = 8, Chi2/df = 2.65, CFI = .97, AGFI = .95, RMSEA = .036, SRMR = .021).
Conclusions:
The construed TechPH score showed expected relations to external real-world criteria, and the two factors showed interesting internal relations. Different technophilia personality traits distinguish clusters with different behaviours of adaption as well as usage of new technology. If there is an independent association with the TechPH score against outcomes in health technology projects needs to be shown in further studies. The instrument must also be validated in different contexts, e.g. other countries.
Citation
