Gender and diagnostic impact on everyday technology use: a differential item functioning (DIF) analysis of the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire (ETUQ)

Background: As the use of everyday technology is increasingly important for participation in daily activities, more in-depth knowledge of everyday technology use in relation to diagnosis and gender is needed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of the perceived challenge of a variety of everyday technologies across different samples of varying diagnoses including both males and females. Methods: This cross-sectional study used 643 data records from clinical and research samples, including persons with dementia or related disorders, acquired brain injury, intellectual disability, various mental or medical disorders, and adults without known diagnoses. The Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire, comprising 93 everyday technology artifacts and services (items) measuring the level of everyday technology challenge and relevance of and perceived ability to use these was used for data gathering. A two-faceted Rasch model in combination with differential item functioning (DIF) analyses were used for comparing item hierarchies across samples. Results: Only three items (3.2%) demonstrated a clinically relevant DIF by gender, and nine items (9.7%) by diagnosis. Discussion: The findings support a stable hierarchy of everyday technology challenge in home and community that can facilitate planning of an accessible and inclusive society from a technological departure point.