Barriers and facilitators for the use of assistive technologies for activities of daily living

Many older people have functional impairments which increase their risk of losing the ability to live autonomously and to become dependent on care by others. However, assistive technologies (ATs) can help to overcome some limitations of activities of daily living and can thus be assumed to prevent, delay or reduce the need for personal long-term care as well as the burden on caring family members (e.g., spouses, adult children). Yet, the use rate of ATs is still rather low. This paper reviews positive effects of ATs and factors that influence their use. We performed systematic literature searches in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Google scholar databases. We found convergent results that the use of ATs for several kinds of activities of daily living such as self-care and mobility was associated with a reduced amount of self-reported personal (in particular informal) care hours. Regarding factors of ATs use, we found that feeling loneliness, cognitive impairments, and difficulty of use were some of barriers for the use of ATs. There is converging evidence that indicators of situation of need (in particular: disabilities in preforming self-care activities) are associated with an increased use of ATs. Slight to moderate functional limitations, chronic illnesses, and home-based training were some of the facilitators for the use of ATs. We concluded with recommendations for further improvement of studies relevant to ATs use.