Assistive technology unmet needs of independent living older Hispanics with functional limitations

Abstract

Purpose: To identify: (1) the most frequently used assistive technology (AT) by a sample of community-living older Hispanics; (2) their AT needs; (3) the AT that would not be used by the simple; and (4) the factors associated with the willingness to use AT.

Materials and methods: We used a cross-sectional descriptive study design with a purposive sample of 60 individuals 70 years and older living in Puerto Rico. Data collection tools included a socio-demographic questionnaire and the Assistive Technology Card Assessment. We used descriptive statistics to identify the sample AT use and needs, χ² to determine the frequency distribution of the socio-demographic variables and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rho) to describe the strength of the association between these variables and the willingness to use AT devices.

Results: The sample had unmet needs for AT devices for cooking, home tasks and home safety. A higher number of health conditions as well as having low educational levels were associated with willingness to use AT devices.

Conclusions: Policy implications are discussed supporting the role of rehabilitation professionals, state government and community-based programmes, including the Area Agencies on Aging, in providing culturally relevant AT education and accessibility to assistive devices.

Implications for rehabilitations

• Hispanic older adults with functional limitations living independently in Puerto Rico have unmet needs for AT devices to compensate for physical limitations and increase safety performance, predominantly in instrumental activities of daily living.

• New policies need to be developed to advocate for increased healthcare coverage of low tech AT devices that could be highly beneficial to older people with functional limitations.

• Community-based programs administered by the state government, the Area Agencies of Aging, or operated through Medicare need to be developed to provide education, training, loans, purchasing, and delivery of low AT devices that can compensate for older people functional limitations.

Keywords:

• Ageing
• low-cost assistive technology
• Hispanics
• activities of daily living
• cultural relevance
• assistive technology assessment

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Hispanics-In-Research Capability: SoHP & SoM Partnership (HiREC) Endowment Program, the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), the National Institutes of Health [grant No. S21MD001830]; the Puerto Rico Clinical & Translational Research Consortium, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (Award Number 2U54MD007587); and the Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program, University of Puerto Rico. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all individuals who participated in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hispanics-In-Research Capability: SoHP & SoM Partnership (HiREC) Endowment Program, the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), the National Institutes of Health [grant No. S21MD001830]; the Puerto Rico Clinical & Translational Research Consortium, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (Award Number 2U54MD007587); and the Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program, University of Puerto Rico. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.