Adoption Intention of an IoT Based Healthcare Technologies in Rehabilitation Process

The research problem of this article is growing challenges to acceptance and relatively slow adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) based healthcare technologies in day-to-day practice among healthcare professionals. Many studies have offered important insight into the adoption of IoT-based healthcare technologies among employees and patients, but the attitudes of health technicians-professionals have rarely been researched. Research aimed to examine the readiness for adoption of IoT healthcare technologies as an assistive technology in the rehabilitation therapy among technician employees in the clinic for rehabilitation in Belgrade. In this study, we propose an integrated research model based on two perspective models - Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Our model includes variables from TAM: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitudes; TPB: attitudes and subjective norm and inclusion of personal innovativeness. The model is tested on responses obtained from a survey of 85 healthcare professionals the in clinic for rehabilitation in Belgrade, Serbia. The findings suggest that the intention to adopt IoT healthcare technologies in a rehabilitation process is positively influenced by perceived usefulness, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived ease of use, and personal innovativeness. We found no evidence that age and gender influenced the intention to adopt or use IoT healthcare technologies. This study contributes with an empirical attempt that includes healthcare technicians-physiotherapists in enhancing the adoption and application of IoT healthcare technologies as assistive technologies. Findings can help countries in the region conduct similar research among healthcare professionals.