Activity and participation, quality of life and user satisfaction outcomes of environmental control systems and smart home technology: a systematic review

Abstract

Objective. To examine activity and participation, quality of life, and user satisfaction outcomes of environmental control systems (ECSs) and smart home technology (SHT) interventions for persons with impairments.

Method. A systematic review. Seventeen databases, three conference proceedings, and two journals were searched without language or study design restrictions covering the period January 1993 – June 2009. Reviewers selected studies, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality independently.

Result. Of 1739 studies identified, five effect studies and six descriptive studies were included. One study was on SHT and the remainder on ECS; functionalities were overlapping. The studies varied in most aspects, and no synthesis could be drawn. However, ECS/SHT tended to increase study participants' independence, instrumental activities of daily living, socialising, and quality of life. Two studies showed high user satisfaction. The level of evidence was regarded as low, mainly due to small study sizes, lacking confounder control, and a majority of descriptive studies.

Conclusion. Due to few and small studies and study diversity, it was not possible to determine whether ECS/SHT have positive outcomes for persons with impairment, even though the technologies seem to be promising. High quality outcomes studies such as randomised controlled trials, when feasible, and large longitudinal multi-centre studies are required.

Keywords:

• Assistive technology
• assistive devices
• occupational therapy
• self-help devices
• EADL

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the librarians at Stakes (now National Institute for Health and Welfare), Helsinki, Finland, for substantial help with the electronic searches. The authors also thank Jamie B. Vickers for reviewing the language of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest: We are grateful to the Nordic Development Centre for Rehabilitation Technology (now Nordic Welfare Center) for financial support. We declare that we do not have any conflict of interest in the performed research.