Effects of communication on continued use of an emergency notification system

The use of emergency notification systems (ENS) to enhance the security, health, and welfare of older adults living alone has become generally widespread in. However, these systems, although widely available, tend to be underutilized. In order to address this problem, a model to improve the acceptance and use of information and communication technology was studied. Variables including usefulness, understanding of services, frequency of support contact, rescued experience, and willingness to use were surveyed using 265 actual ENS situations. The results indicated that willingness to use is affected by the perception of usefulness and understanding of service (p= 0.001). Additionally, results indicated that understanding is promoted independently by the communication of service-initiated support contact by phone (p= 0.001). Therefore, the support contact could be an effective intervention that promotes users´ willingness to utilize the service.