Older individuals' experiences during the assistive technology device service delivery process

Abstract

Objective: Providing assistive technology devices to older individuals living in their ordinary homes is an important intervention to increase and sustain independence and to enable ageing at home. However, little is known about older individuals' experiences and needs in the assistive technology device (ATD) service delivery process. The purpose of this study was to investigate older individuals' experiences during the service delivery process of ATDs. Methods: Nine older individuals were interviewed three times each throughout the ATD service delivery process. The interviews were analysed within a hermeneutical phenomenological perspective. Results: The results show that the service delivery process could be interpreted as an enigmatic journey and described using four themes: “hope and optimistic expectations”, “managing after delivery or needing additional help”, “having available help versus being abandoned”, and “taking charge or putting up”. Conclusions: The results emphasize the need for occupational therapists to maintain an individualized approach towards older clients throughout the service delivery process. The experiences of older individuals were diverse and related to expectations that were not necessarily articulated to the occupational therapist. The situation when the ATD is delivered to the client was highlighted by the clients as an important event with the potential to facilitate a successful service delivery process.

Key words::

• occupational therapy
• community health care
• client-centred practice

Acknowledgements

The results presented in this article are part of a PhD project funded by the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø. The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.