Clinicians’ perceptions of a mobile app decision-aid for improving patient compression stocking adherence: a qualitative descriptive approach guided by the technology acceptance model

A novel mobile app decision-aid was developed to improve patient adherence to compression stockings and was tested in a tertiary hospital outpatient clinic, demonstrating improved adherence in the intervention group compared to usual care. The successful integration of new technology into clinical practice depends on clinician acceptance of the technology. The objective of this research was to investigate clinicians’ acceptance of the mobile app decision-aid, exploring their experiences and perceptions regarding its use in clinical practice. A qualitative descriptive approach was used in this two-phased study: (a) capturing clinician perceptions throughout the conduct of the main study and (b) semi-structured interviews guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Themes were analyzed using NVIVO-12 software. Nine clinicians participated in the first phase, with four completing follow-up interviews in the second phase. Key themes, organized using TAM constructs (ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes, and behavioural intentions), highlighted the integration of the technology into practice, emphasizing efficiency, benefits, and challenges. The mobile app decision-aid may have gently guided clinicians and patients towards certain evidence-based choices, while allowing for clinicians to override recommendations based on their professional judgement and experience. Clinicians reported that the decision-aid supported a non-judgmental approach, strengthening the therapeutic relationship with the patient, challenged assumptions, provided structure, facilitated skill-development, and encouraged persistence in identifying and addressing patient barriers. Clinicians positively perceived the mobile app delivering the decision-aid, emphasizing its ease of use and benefits for patients as key factors supporting its adoption in clinical practice to improve compression stocking adherence. These findings suggest that the mobile app decision-aid could be a feasible and effective resource for improving adherence, with opportunities for tailoring and broader applicability to other patient populations in the future. Further research is warranted to explore its long-term impact and scalability. The research is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) 12,620,000,544,976. Ethical Approval was granted through the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee and Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee HREC/2020/QGC/62,843 and SSA/2020/QGC/62,843.