Home safety evaluation – getting it right

Abstract

Purpose

Comprehensive and efficient home safety assessments are needed to provide quality interventions for community living. This study explores early career and experienced home evaluator perspectives on content and usability of HESTIA, a home safety assessment app.

Method

Four early career and five experienced practitioners rated the HESTIA app using the uMARS usability evaluation and then participated in focus groups. Data were analysed using a key concept analytic approach.

Results

Results include “how to do” home safety evaluations and how prompts and training help practitioners “get it right.” Early practitioner participants viewed the step-wise processes of the app as necessary whereas the experienced evaluators relied on own knowledge and experiences.

Conclusions

Gobet and Chassy’s TempT theory provides insight into the development of expertise in practice for rehabilitation professionals. The procedural complexities of assessment and ethical responsibility to provide competent, quality service to clients with disabilities are integrated into discussion of the development of professional intuition and ethical practice as guided by HESTIA.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Home safety evaluations and home modifications are essential in helping persons with disabilities to live at home.

• Mobile applications such as HESTIA can serve as beneficial supports in facilitating effective decision making processes for rehabilitation practitioners conducting home safety evaluations.

• Technology driven assessments through mobile applications (apps) can help improve proper decision making and client outcomes, as well as aid in the development of intuition in students and early-career practitioners.

• Decision making support systems can help practitioners uphold their ethical responsibility to provide competent and quality rehabilitative services.

Keywords:

• home safety
• professional reasoning
• intuition
• ethical practice
• decision support techniques
• mobile application
• assistive technology
• software design

Acknowledgements

The contents of this report do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The contents of this report were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research [NIDILRR grant number 90IF0083-01-00], NIDILRR is a Centre within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).