Factors in acceptance of advanced information technology among social workers: an exploratory study

Abstract

Summary Advanced information technology such as diagnostic programs, decision support systems or therapeutic computer games are likely to have far-reaching effects on the nature of social work practice, on the condition that they can be accepted by rank and file workers in human services organizations. This exploratory study was designed to develop a valid instrument that can test the extent to which social workers are willing to use the three most common types of advanced information technology: (1) computerized assessment package (CA), (2) decision support system (DSS), and (3) therapeutic computer games (TG). The instrument was field-tested with 74 Israeli social workers. Social workers clearly differentiated between the types of information technology with preference for therapeutic computer games (TG, DDS, CA, mean acceptance = 4.14, 3.91, 3.47, respectively). The differences between TG and CA, and between DDS and CA were statistically significant in paired t-tests (p = .000 and .003 respectively).