Understanding the possibilities and limitations of assistive technology in health and welfare services for people with intellectual disabilities, staff perspectives

Figures & data

Table 1. Spearman’s correlation between the items of the questionnaire and background characteristics.

	Age	Gender	ID-year	AT-year
Q1	−0.05	−0.02	0.01	0.47
	p = 0.501	p = 0.807	p = 0.961	p < 0.001
Q2	−0.05	0.19	−0.02	0.44
	p = 0.525	p = 0.012	p = 0.825	p < 0.001
Q3	0.16	0.05	0.25	0.53
	p = 0.039	p = 0.513	p = 0.01	p < 0.001
Q4	−0.01	−0.04	−0.07	0.26
	p = 0.865	p = 0.644	p = 0.351	p = 0.001
Q5	−0.11	0.03	−0.12	0.09
	p = 0.165	p = 0.724	p = 0.124	p = 0.353
Q6	−0.09	−0.01	−0.13	0.04
	p = 0.251	p = 0.900	p = 0.108	p = 0.684
Q7	−0.05	0.01	−0.18	0.09
	p = 0.453	p = 0.978	p = 0.021	p = 0.323
Q8	−0.06	−0.08	−0.111	0.21
	p = 0.419	p = 0.304	p = 0.163	p = 0.005
Q9	0.02	−0.13	−0.06	0.01
	p = 0.856	p = 0.091	p = 0.424	p = 0.973
Q10	0.14	−0.04	0.05	−0.01
	p = 0.064	p = 0.648	p = 0.509	p = 0.938
Q11	0.01	−0.01	−0.11	0.05
	p = 0.970	p = 0.919	p = 0.167	p = 0.607
Q12	−0.01	−0.01	−0.14	0.06
	p = 0.909	p = 0.988	p = 0.082	p = 0.530
Q13	0.03	0.20	−0.05	0.18
	p = 0.665	p = 0.808	p = 0.546	p = 0.065
Q14	−0.06	−0.09	−0.13	0.10
	p = 0.399	p = 0.232	p = 0.093	p = 0.320

ID: intellectual disability; AT: Assistive technology. (Q1) AT is a topic in my workplace. (Q2) I have the competence to assist/train service users to use AT. (Q3) It is educated whom I would contact to evaluate AT services. (Q4) AT is relevant in my workplace. (Q5) AT is relevant to people with ID. (Q6) AT can increase the service user’s daily mastering. (Q7) AT can be resource-saving at my workplace. (Q8) People with ID get offers about AT solutions. (Q9) People with ID can use AT. (Q10) I would have benefitted from more information about AT opportunities. (Q11) I want to utilize/use AT solutions at my job. Q12) AT can give more freedom to the person we assist. (Q13) AT is exciting. (Q14) I like to identify opportunities for new solutions.

Table 2. Demographic and work characteristics of participants (n = 176).

Variable	Number (%)	Mean (SD)	p-Value
Age
Female	133 (75.6)	36.2 (12.6)	0.57
Male	43 (24.4)	35.0 (11.9)
Work-ID (years)
Female		9.9 (8.6)	0.76
Male		9.4 (7.9)
Work-AT (years)
Female		5.5 (6.4)	0.91
Male		5.6 (6.2)

SD: standard deviation; ID: intellectual disability; AT: Assistive technology; BS/MS: Bachelor of Science/Master of Science.

p-Values show the result of between-gender comparisons.

Table 3. Themes and sub-themes.

Staff’s associations about technology	The function of welfare technology in daily service delivery	Staff’s own role and responsibility
Different technology products	Possibilities	Lack of a professionalised approach
	Increase independence Coping Safety and simplification of life Improvement of communication Improvement for both staff and users
Commercial advertisements	Concerns	Need for awareness of AT within the healthcare system
	Surveillance Reduction of freedom Decrease in face-to-face interactions
Ambivalence		The role of the healthcare professional and others
		Lack of self-confidence
		Ethical considerations

Figure 1. The median values for the 14-item questionnaire with a five-point answer (1: completely disagree to 5: completely agree). Note. (Q1) AT is a topic in my workplace. (Q2) I have the competence to assist/train service users to use AT. (Q3) It is educated whom I would contact to evaluate AT services. (Q4) AT is relevant in my workplace. (Q5) AT is relevant to people with ID. (Q6) AT can increase the service user’s daily mastering. (Q7) AT can be resource-saving at my workplace. (Q8) People with ID get offers about AT solutions. Q9) People with ID can use AT. (Q10) I would have benefitted from more information about AT opportunities. (Q11) I want to utilize/use AT solutions at my job. (Q12) AT can give more freedom to the person we assist. (Q13) AT is exciting. (Q14) I like to identify opportunities for new solutions.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request.