Technology offers the potential to reduce staff workload and improve quality of care in a range of health and aged care settings. However, technology uptake has been slow in the in-home aged care sector, compared to other sectors. One such reason may be low digital readiness in the workforce. Digital readiness refers to the preparedness of individuals to use technology, which includes the domains of skills, trust, and use. In this study, digital readiness domains were operationalised into digital health literacy, attitudes towards technology, and current personal technology use. We aimed to understand the digital readiness characteristics of the in-home aged care workforce.
A cross-sectional staff survey was conducted at a national Australian in-home aged care organisation, with 267 participants from three states. Most participants were female (91%) and aged 45 – 60 years (64%). Utilising latent profile analysis, three distinct digital readiness profiles (higher, medium, and lower) were identified. The participants with medium and lower digital readiness comprised the largest (64%) and smallest (12%) proportion of the cohort. Participants’ age group, education level, and role (p=0.003; 0.029; 0.009) were significantly associated with their digital readiness profile.
Findings indicated that while the in-home aged care workforce is typically prepared to use technology in their roles, a small but significant minority may require targeted assistance to improve their preparedness to use technology. Further research is required to understand the relationship between digital readiness and work-related use of technology within in-home aged care.