Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 17;6(8):e37682.
doi: 10.2196/37682.

Determining the Influencing Factors on Acceptance of eHealth Pain Management Interventions Among Patients With Chronic Pain Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology: Cross-sectional Study

Paula Stoppok  1 , Martin Teufel  1   2 , Lisa Jahre  1   2 , Caroline Rometsch  1   2   3 , Diana Müßgens  4 , Ulrike Bingel  4 , Eva-Maria Skoda  1   2 , Alexander Bäuerle  1   2
Affiliations

Determining the Influencing Factors on Acceptance of eHealth Pain Management Interventions Among Patients With Chronic Pain Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology: Cross-sectional Study

Paula Stoppok et al. JMIR Form Res. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic pain is a complex disease with high prevalence rates, and many individuals who are affected do not receive adequate treatment. As a complement to conventional therapies, eHealth interventions could provide many benefits to a multimodal treatment approach for patients with chronic pain, whereby future use is associated with the acceptance of these interventions.

Objective: This study aims to assess the acceptance of eHealth pain management interventions among patients with chronic pain and identify the influencing factors on acceptance. A further objective of the study is to evaluate the viability of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model and compare it with its extended version in terms of explained variance of acceptance.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional web-based study. In total, 307 participants with chronic pain, as defined according to the International Association for the Study of Pain criteria, were recruited through flyers, posters, and web-based inquiries between December 2020 and July 2021. In addition to sociodemographic and medical data, the assessment included validated psychometric instruments and an extended version of the well-established UTAUT model. For statistical analyses, group comparisons and multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed.

Results: The acceptance of eHealth pain management interventions among patients with chronic pain was overall moderate to high (mean 3.67, SD 0.89). There was significant difference in acceptance among age groups (W=9674.0; r=0.156; P=.04). Effort expectancy (β=.37; P<.001), performance expectancy (β=.33; P<.001), and social influence (β=.34; P<.001) proved to be the most important predictors of acceptance. The extended UTAUT (including the original UTAUT factors as well as sociodemographic, medical, and eHealth-related factors) model explained 66.4% of the variance in acceptance, thus supporting the viability of the model. Compared with the original UTAUT model (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence), the extended model explained significantly more variance (F25,278=1.74; P=.02).

Conclusions: Given the association between acceptance and future use, the knowledge of the influencing factors on acceptance should be used in the development and promotion of eHealth pain management interventions. Overall, the acceptance of eHealth pain management interventions was moderate to high. In total, 8 predictors proved to be significant predictors of acceptance. The UTAUT model is a valuable instrument for determining acceptance as well as the factors that influence acceptance of eHealth pain management interventions among patients with chronic pain. The extended UTAUT model provided the greatest predictive value for acceptance.

Keywords: UTAUT; Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology; acceptance; chronic pain; eHealth; eHealth interventions; pain management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Raja SN, Carr DB, Cohen M, Finnerup NB, Flor H, Gibson S, Keefe FJ, Mogil JS, Ringkamp M, Sluka KA, Song XJ, Stevens B, Sullivan MD, Tutelman PR, Ushida T, Vader K. The revised International Association for the Study of Pain definition of pain: concepts, challenges, and compromises. Pain. 2020 Sep 01;161(9):1976–82. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001939. https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/32694387 00006396-202009000-00006 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Treede RD, Rief W, Barke A, Aziz Q, Bennett MI, Benoliel R, Cohen M, Evers S, Finnerup NB, First MB, Giamberardino MA, Kaasa S, Kosek E, Lavand'homme P, Nicholas M, Perrot S, Scholz J, Schug S, Smith BH, Svensson P, Vlaeyen JW, Wang SJ. A classification of chronic pain for ICD-11. Pain. 2015 Jun;156(6):1003–7. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000160. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/25844555 00006396-201506000-00006 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Häuser W, Schmutzer G, Hilbert A, Brähler E, Henningsen P. Prevalence of chronic disabling noncancer pain and associated demographic and medical variables: a cross-sectional survey in the general German population. Clin J Pain. 2015 Oct;31(10):886–92. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000173. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Koesling D, Kieselbach K, Bozzaro C. Chronischer Schmerz und Gesellschaft : Soziologische Analyse einer komplexen Verschränkung. Schmerz. 2019 Jun;33(3):220–5. doi: 10.1007/s00482-019-0361-7.10.1007/s00482-019-0361-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rice AS, Smith BH, Blyth FM. Pain and the global burden of disease. Pain. 2016 Apr;157(4):791–6. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000454.00006396-201604000-00006 - DOI - PubMed