JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

People with intellectual disabilities in residential or outpatient facilities for people with disabilities run the risk of being digitally excluded by not having opportunities for taking advantage of the digitalizations’ possibilities.

Objective:

We therefore aim to investigate how disability caregivers and managers describe barriers and facilitating factors to implement and adopt mainstream technology for people with intellectual disabilities in residential or outpatient facilities and how competencies and capabilities of the caregivers are assessed in the procedure.

Methods:

For this reason, we conducted a multiple-methods-study applying the nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework.

Results:

As a result, we identified barriers and facilitators across NASSS domains. 1. Condition: People with intellectual disabilities are a diverse group of people, where the individual condition of the person and e.g. their communication skills were seen as a perquisite for implementing mainstream technologies. 2. Technology: The extent to what mainstream technology fits the individual needs and demands contributed to the implementation process. 3. Value proposition: Communication was seen as a life area where mainstream technology can add value. Adopters: The caregivers needed competencies and capabilities to accompany their caretakers’ technology use. Organization: Missing legal regulations and lack of personnel resources were described as barriers. Wider context: Funding opportunities were seen as unclear in disability services, as mainstream technologies could not be financed as participation benefits. 7. Embedding and adaptation over time: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced facilities to digitalize to some extent.

Conclusions:

The disability services investigated were still in need of standardized procedures to promote digital participation of their residents.