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Assistive technology (AT) information networks are insular among stakeholder groups, causing unequal access to information. Participants often cited fragmented international marketplaces as a barrier and valued info-sharing across industries. Current searches produce biased results in marketplaces influenced by commercial interests and high-income contexts. Smart features could facilitate searching, update centralised data sources, and disseminate information more inclusively.

International Journal of Human - Computer Studies, Volume 177, September 2023, 103078

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103078

Explicitly monitoring the need, use and satisfaction of assistive product (AP) provision is essential to support population health and healthy longevity in ageing/aged countries, like Korea. We present findings from the 2017 Korea National Disability Survey (NDS) on AP access and compare them to international averages, introducing Korea’s data into the wider coherence of global AP research.

Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology

https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2023.2225565 

The Assessment package has been developed for countries to evaluate the implementation of the WHO Standards for prosthetics and orthotics. It enables identification of areas in need of strengthening and facilitates relevant planning. The complete Assessment package consists of four components:

Assessment guide: gives directions on how to organize and implement the assessment.
Assessment tool: Excel instrument used to carry out assessments and record results.
User manual: explains how the Assessment tool should be used.
Planning document: Excel file into which the recommendations that are generated by the Assessment tool can be pasted for easy use in subsequent planning.

Before undertaking the assessment, stakeholders at the country level should familiarize themselves with the package components and the WHO standards for prosthetics and orthotics (Parts 1 and 2). A PowerPoint presentation describing the assessment process and a video presenting the main assessment steps and key functions of the tool are also available to download from the links below. It is recommended that assessments are undertaken in collaboration with the ministry of health and other ministries responsible for assistive technology, prosthetics and orthotics, and/or rehabilitation.

Related links:

Assessment guide

Assessment tool

User manual

Planning document

PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint presentation in pdf

Video 

An estimated 1.5 million people undergo limb amputation each year [1]. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to have a rapid increase in people living with an amputation in the coming years due to prevalence of non-communicable disease, trauma and conflict. This paper explores the personal and system factors that motivate and enhance outcomes for patients accessing a prosthetic service and using a lower-limb prosthesis within a low resource setting.

This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the motivations and satisfaction of individuals with lower limb loss engaging with a prosthetic service in Mombasa, Kenya. In-depth interviews were conducted over Microsoft Teams with 10 lower limb prosthesis users and thematic analysis was applied.

Disability and Rehabilitation Volume 45, 2023 - Issue 26

https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2152875

Owing to increased inclusion of young people with disabilities into the private sector in Bangladesh and Kenya, there is an urgent need to find alternative ways to support young graduates with a disability in the workplace with assistive technology solutions. The aim of the paper is to identify barriers for private workplace sectors to use assistive technology to support young graduates seeking, maintaining and retaining employment. This qualitative study adopted the research onion design of Saunders et al. Data were collected usinginterviews and focus group discussions and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that barriers are linked to seven key person-centred capability themes: the dream, external factors, internal factors, assistive technology vision,strategic design priorities and gaps and assistive actions.

Journal of International Development, Volume 34, No. 5

It is estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that 15% of the world's population has a disability and one billion people need one or more Assistive Products (AP) but as little as one in ten have access to the device they need. There is however very little data to define this need for AP in low-resource settings. 

To contribute to the knowledge gap, the findings from the surveys presented in this report give a unique insight into disability prevalence and access to AT in five urban low-income communities in Sierra Leone and Indonesia, where a total of 4,256 individuals were surveyed using the rATA tool.

The rATA tool is designed for the rapid evaluation of the need, use, supply and impact of AT, Rapid Assistive Technology Assessment (rATA) is a new survey from WHO. A version modified by the Development Planning Unit-University College London (DPUUCL) was conducted in September 2019 for the research project “AT2030 community led solutions”, as part of the AT2030 programme led by Global Disability Innovation Hub.

The supply of and market demand for assistive products (APs) are complex and influenced by diverse stakeholders. The methods used to collect AP population-level market data are similarly varied. In this paper, we review current population-level AP supply and demand estimation methods for five priority APs and provide recommendations for improving national and global AP market evaluation.

Abstracts resulting from a systematic search were double-screened. Extracted data include WHO world region, publication year, age-groups, AP domain(s), study method, and individual assessment approach.

Assistive Technology 
The Official Journal of RESNA
Volume 33, 2021 - Issue sup1: Companion Papers to the Global Report on Assistive Technology

https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2021.1957039

Epidemiological data on musculoskeletal impairment (MSI) and related service and assistive product (AP) needs for displaced populations are lacking. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence, aetiology, and specific MSI diagnosis and the need for related services and APs among Syrian refugees living in Sultanbeyli, a district in Istanbul, Turkey.

A population-based survey used probability proportionate to size and compact segment sampling to select 80 clusters (‘street’) of 50 individuals (aged 2+), for total sample size of approximately 4000 participants. An updated version of the Rapid Assessment of MSI tool (RAM) was used to screen all participants using six questions. Any participant who screened positive underwent a standardised examination by a physiotherapist to assess the presence, aetiology, severity and specific diagnosis of MSI and an assessment of need for related services and APs.

Conflict and Health volume 15, Article number: 29 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-021-00362-9

Introduction: The western world is seeking increased implementation of assistive technology (AT) to meet the challenges of an ageing population. The objective of this study is to explore perspectives on AT use among home-dwelling older adults with or without cognitive impairment.

Methods: This study combines findings from a cross-sectional study with a questionnaire package (n = 83) and from qualitative individual interviews (n = 7) and is part of a larger study, the Assisted Living Project. Combining methods promotes complementary inquiries into a phenomenon.

Results: The participants already use ATs: TVs, social alarms, mobile phones, stove timers, electronic med- ical dispensers, PCs and tablet computers. They were both optimistic and skeptical of AT, and expressed different perspectives and expressed different perspectives on ATs in relation to usability, privacy and fear of losing personal face-to-face care.

Conclusions: This study reveals that older adults’ perspectives on AT are multifaceted and complex, and can partly be explained by the interacting factors in the HAAT model: person, technology, environment, and context. Further exploration in relation to older adults with health challenges, as well as ethical per- spectives on AT implementation, is required for this group.