Utilizing assistive devices: comparison of the American model with the reality of the needs of Quebec

Abstract

In order to understand better the nature of the success or failure of a recommendation of a technical aid, a group of occupational therapists from Québec became interested in an American assessment called "Assistive technology device predisposition assessment". This assessment is based on the "Matching Person and Technology" model proposed by Scherer in 1994. The model describes 40 factors that can influence the use (or the non use) of technical aids. A participative and qualitative study was conducted with the collaboration of 10 francophone occupational therapists, in order to verify if the tool can be adapted to Québec's context. Each had to reconstruct two case studies following the recommendation of a technical aid: the first showing a satisfactory use of a technical aid and the second, a non use of a technical aid. According to the participants' experience, the results show that the American assessment focuses well on the pertinent factors of technical aids, providing that seven other specific factors are added. This article describes four of the case studies that show the importance of considering different influential factors that could render other significant results. Finally, the study generated two proposals for further research in the area of technical aids.