Dissatisfaction and Nonuse of Assistive Devices Among Frail Elders
By Mann, William C., OTR, PhD; Goodall, Sara, OTS; Justiss, Michael D., MOT, OTR/L; Tomita, Machiko, PhD; Assistive Technology, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 130-139Publication Date: Winter 2002
Article is based on the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Aging Consumer Assessments Study, which included a sample of 1,056 older participants who reported either use or nonuse of assistive technology (AT). Assistive technology devices were grouped into categories based on the type of disability they pertained to (hearing, vision, cognitive, and musculoskeletal/neuromotor). Researchers used the Consumer Assessments Study Interview Battery, which required the participants to rate their devices on a Likert scale of one to ten based on overall effectiveness, and to answer open-ended questions about their use of AT. All data were collected in face-to-face interviews in the participants’ homes. The study participants reportedly owned a mean of 14.2 AT devices, used 84.8 percent of the devices they owned, and were satisfied with 84.2 percent of the devices they owned. People with musculoskeletal/neuromuscular disabilities owned the largest number of devices, while the participants rated devices in the hearing impairment category as being the least effective. The researchers concluded that more focused studies are needed on satisfaction and dissatisfaction with specific devices, focusing on their design and features.
Published by: Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) (Website:http://www.resna.org)
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J46746
