Assistive Device Users Research Articles

The Voice of the Customer—Part 2: Benchmarking Battery Chargers Against the Consumer's Ideal Product

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Evaluation and Transfer is exploring how the end users of assistive technology devices define the ideal device. This work is called the Consumer Ideal Product program. In this work, end users identify and establish the importance of a broad range of product design features, along with the related product support and service provided by manufacturers and vendors. This paper describes a method for systematically transforming end-user defined requirements into a form that is useful and accessible to product designers, manufacturers, and vendors. In particular, product requirements, importance weightings, and metrics are developed from the Consumer Ideal Product battery charger outcomes. Six battery chargers are bench-marked against these product requirements using the metrics developed. The results suggest improvements for each product's design, service, and support. Overall, the six chargers meet roughly 45–75% of the ideal product's requirements. Many of the suggested improvements are low-cost changes that, if adopted, could provide companies a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

The Voice of the Customer: Consumers Define the Ideal Battery Charger

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Evaluation and Transfer is exploring how the users of assistive technology devices define the ideal device. This work is called the Consumer Ideal Product program. The results show what device characteristics are most and least important, indicating where to place the priority on product features and functions from the consumer's perspective. The “voice of the customer” can be used (1) to define the ideal characteristics of a product, (2) to make tradeoffs in product design and function improvements based on their relative importance to the consumer, (3) to compare the characteristics of existing products against the characteristics of the ideal product, or (4) to generate a product checklist for consumers to use when making a purchase decision. This paper presents the results of consumers' defining the ideal battery charger. Four focus groups generated the survey's content, then 100 experienced users rated 159 characteristics organized under 11 general evaluation criteria. The consumers placed the highest importance on characteristics from the general evaluation criteria of product reliability, effectiveness, and physical security/safety. The findings should help manufacturers and vendors improve their products and services and help professionals and consumers make informed choices.

The use and effectiveness of assistive devices in an elderly urban population.

The aim of this study was to examine the type, frequency and usage rate of assistive devices in daily life activities in a community-based population aged 70 and over (N = 170), as well as the particular part of the intervention trial which focused on un-met needs, and the usage rate and effectiveness of assistive devices 6 and 12 months after prescription. Among persons under 80 years of age, 24% were users of assistive devices; in the 80 years or above group, this figure rose to 57%. Hygiene and mobility devices were the most common. The usage rate of assistive devices was 84%. The reasons for disuse were an improved health status, or difficulties in using the device. Sixteen percent of the study population had un-met needs of assistive devices. At follow-up visits, the subjects estimated a high degree of effectiveness when using the devices, particularly in the form of reduced difficulty and increment of safety, and increased capacity and ability in various activities. We conclude that the use of assistive devices increases with age, and that most of the assistive devices are used and are effective. As the need for assistive devices changes over time, follow-ups in the home are necessary. Therefore, to meet the needs of a growing elderly population, information about assistive technology should be supplied to both personnel in health care and in the social service system.

Family perspective on augmentative and alternative communication: families of adolescents and young adults

In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Center of Harrisburg, a survey was conducted to gain information about families of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 13 to 21 years who use assistive devices to overcome severe speaking and writing impairments. The purpose of this study was to identify the needs, priorities, and preferences of mothers and fathers of older children for assistive devices and technology services. A total of 132 parents (i.e., 85 mothers and 47 fathers) representing 97 families responded to the survey. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Both mothers and fathers expressed priority needs for increasing knowledge of assistive devices and planning for future communication needs. Among the mothers' other priorities were needs for having social opportunities for the AAC adolescent with nonhandicapped peers, integrating assistive devices in the community, and having social opportunities for the AAC adolescent with other assistive device users. ...

The Challenge of Educational Technology for Students with Multiple Impairments in the Classroom

This article describes the instructional dilemma the first author (PM) presented when he enrolled in a university class, The Special Child, taught by the second (BB). Since exceptional children are heavy users of assistive devices, the course content deals extensively with educational technology, but focuses on single technologies matched to single needs. Because of his multiple impairments, PM is legally blind and hearing impaired, numerous adaptations were required to allow him to continue his successful academic pursuits. This article describes the need for adaptation and the procedures, developed jointly by both authors, to facilitate the learning process.

Silo Filler's disease in New York state : F. L. Zwemer Jr., D. S. Pratt, and J. J. May. American Review of Respiratory Disease, 146(3), 650–653.

Nurses are at an increased risk for work-related musculoskeletal injuries as a result of the cumulative effects of manual patient-handling tasks. An evidence-based mobility curriculum was implemented in an associate degree nursing program designed to teach student nurses safe patient handling and movement using the principles of ergonomics and usage of mechanical assistive devices to decrease future incidence of work-related musculoskeletal injuries.

Assistive Device Utilization and Quality of Life in Adults with Spinal Cord Injuries or Cerebral Palsy Two Years Later

A study was done in 1986 that compared assistive device (AD) users and non-users on their functioning, temperament, and perceived quality of life. A follow-up study was conducted in 1988 with all of the original study participants in order to assess changes over time in the above mentioned areas. The original methodology was repeated with five female adults with cerebral palsy (CP) and five male adults with spinal cord Injuries (SCI). Additionally, two individuals with recent spinal cord injuries were added to the sample. The findings indicate that the functional capacities and temperament of participants with CP both tended to improve over time whereas most SCI participants seemed to become less well-adjusted in several areas. While the SCI users of ADs continued to display the best overall functioning of all participant groups, the SCI non-users reported the most functional declines over time with the gaps between them and the SCI users widening.

Assistive Device Utilization And Quality-of-Life in Adults With Spinal Cord Injuries or Cerebral Palsy

A preliminary assessment of assistive device (AD) utilization by adults with cerebral palsy (CP) and spinal cord injuries (SCI) was conducted during the winter, 1986. A qualitative research approach was selected over a quantitative one so that pre-selected themes would not be imposed upon the data but, rather, would emerge from the data obtained. Five males with SCI and five females with CP, all subjects having a four-quadrant involvement, were interviewed about their AD use and quality-of-life. The findings indicate that female AD users with CP emphasize the capability to do things for the first time in their lives because of their ADs. They speak in terms of gains. In contrast, male AD non-users with SCI interpret ADs as poor replacements for their own functioning and see them as reminders of loss. AD users of both disabilities see their quality-of-life as being within their control whereas non-users believe otherwise. It was concluded that increased functional capabilities gained through AD utilization and the attainment of a “normalized” quality-of-life may present users with generalized “high functioning” expectations and frustrations for which their prior socialization did not prepare them. This, coupled with little peer contact, was discussed as contributing to participants' feelings of nervousness, depression, emotional inhibition and a sense of identity confusion.