Incentives for the Acceptance of Mobility Equipment by Elderly People on the Basis of the Kano Model: A Human Factors Perspective for Initial Contact with Healthcare Products

Personal mobility, such as, for example, the ability to get up and sit down independently, decreases by age. In Germany, one out of ten people older than 75 years needs long-term care and thereby support in personal mobility. Within the age group of 80+ years this number increases even more. Personal immobility is one of the main reasons for the necessity of a caregiver. To improve older persons’ independent mobility, supporting technical devices like walking sticks, walkers and wheel chairs established themselves. However, these devices can just be used after the patient gets up or sits down. For these special situations, technical solutions are also available. They are able to support a user even during situations in which he or she needs to be lifted. But they are not used frequently due to various reasons such as high costs and high stigmatization potential. In this study, the Kano model was used to analyze different customer requirements for initial contact with such a technical mobility aid. Investigated requirements were, for example, design, acceptance of mobility aids’ sharing solutions, usability and usage sites of such aids. The study revealed individual design to be an attractive customer requirement whereas a pooling solution and hence sharing the mobility aid leads to a decreased customer value. All in all, this study stresses customers’ acceptance of mobility aids and identifies several customer requirements for a positive initial contact.