To Örebro University

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of factors influencing the acceptance by Parkinson's disease (PD) patients of a self-management application for an Internet of Things system. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) factors including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence were tested along with sociodemographic (age and gender) and technology-associated (experience with modern technology) factors to determine their contributions for predicting behavioral intention to use the application. Fifty respondents completed the survey. The results show that the UTAUT-based factors, sociodemographic and technology-associated factors account for 82.9% of the variability in PD patients' behavioralintention to use the application. We found that women were significantly more positive than men (p<0.001) in their intention to use the application. If offered the application in the future, 70% of the respondents would use it. Respondents with lower level of experience with technology had less intention to use the application. Performance expectancy and social influence were the only factors that positively predicted intention to use the application. The results showed high scores related to intention to use the application, suggesting high acceptance of the application by the PD patients. Based on qualitative results, the application was seen by PD patients as a useful tool for providing them a better overview of their health status. Finally, the acceptance of the application can be increased by showing its benefits to the PD patients and by developing social strategies to encourage them to stimulate each other to use the application.