{"doi":"10.3390/s23052768","title":"Taking a Load Off: User Perceptions of Smart Offloading Walkers for Diabetic Foot Ulcers Using the Technology Acceptance Model","abstract":"People with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are commonly prescribed offloading walkers, but inadequate adherence to prescribed use can be a barrier to ulcer healing. This study examined user perspectives of offloading walkers to provide insight on ways to help promote adherence. Participants were randomized to wear: (1) irremovable, (2) removable, or (3) smart removable walkers (smart boot) that provided feedback on adherence and daily walking. Participants completed a 15-item questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Spearman correlations assessed associations between TAM ratings with participant characteristics. Chi-squared tests compared TAM ratings between ethnicities, as well as 12-month retrospective fall status. A total of 21 adults with DFU (age 61.5 ± 11.8 years) participated. Smart boot users reported that learning how to use the boot was easy (ρ =−0.82, p≤ 0.001). Regardless of group, people who identified as Hispanic or Latino, compared to those who did not, reported they liked using the smart boot (p = 0.05) and would use it in the future (p = 0.04). Non-fallers, compared to fallers, reported the design of the smart boot made them want to wear it longer (p = 0.04) and it was easy to take on and off (p = 0.04). Our findings can help inform considerations for patient education and design of offloading walkers for DFUs.","journal":"Sensors","year":2023,"id":344040,"datarank":0.3958585994422889,"base_score":2.639057329615259,"endowment":2.639057329615259,"self_citation_contribution":0.3958585994422889,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.3958585994422889,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":13,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9588,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":872516,"name":"Gozde Cay","orcid":"0000-0003-1985-1772","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":886175,"name":"Myeounggon Lee","orcid":"0000-0001-8546-5613","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":822672,"name":"Jason Garcia","orcid":"0000-0003-3236-9630","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1082024,"name":"Elia Salazar","orcid":"0000-0002-7979-5015","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":533431,"name":"Tze‐Woei Tan","orcid":"0000-0002-6658-9482","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":289127,"name":"David G. Armstrong","orcid":"0000-0003-1887-9175","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":478542,"name":"Bijan Najafi","orcid":"0000-0002-0320-8101","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":940089,"name":"M. G. Finco","orcid":"0000-0003-0637-2772","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":33,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:11:26.556051Z","pmid":"36904971","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}