Assistive technology (AT) includes assistive products (APs) and related services that can improve health and well-being, enable increased independence and foster participation for people with functional difficulties, including older adults and people with impairments or chronic health conditions. This paper uses the umbrella term ‘functional difficulty’ (FD) to refer to all of these groups. This systematic review was undertaken to identify studies presenting population-based estimates of need and coverage for five APs (hearing aids, limb prostheses, wheelchairs, glasses and personal digital assistants) grouped by four functional domains (hearing, mobility, vision and cognition).
This study aimed to identify operational issues encountered by study participants in using the ‘Care for Stroke’ intervention and to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. ‘Care for Stroke’ is a smartphone-enabled, educational intervention for management of physical disabilities following stroke. It is delivered through a web-based, smartphone enabled application (app). It includes inputs from stroke rehabilitation experts in a digitised format. Sixty stroke survivors discharged from hospital in Chennai, South India, and their caregivers participated in the study. The preliminary intervention was field-tested with 30 stroke survivors for 2 weeks. The finalised intervention was provided to a further 30 stroke survivors to be used in their homes with support from their carers for 4 weeks. Field-testing identified operational difficulties related to connectivity, video-streaming, picture clarity, quality of videos, and functionality of the application. Assessment was carried out by direct observation and short interview questionnaires.