Evaluation
One of the biggest concerns related to AT is that there is a huge rate of disuse. Surveys find that as much as 75% of AT that is obtained is never or seldom used just a few weeks after it is obtained. It is easy to attribute the AT disuse to the person.
However, the person alone is rarely at the core of that disuse. Reasons for that include poor fit with the client and their needs, inadequate training, and lack of support.Typically,
there is poor fit between the P-E-O and more intervention needs to be targeted
at the environment itself. For example, students who receiving laptops with
specialized software may be perceived as unwilling to use their equipment. Upon
closer examination, it may be that they require information in electronic
format, which the environment is not providing. It’s like having a power
wheelchair with no battery! The student may have the motivation and skills to
use the technology, but having no material to use with it leads pretty quickly to AT disuse.
Education of other key support persons and encouraging a culture shift within that
environment will take time and need to be addressed before the HAAT (Human-Activity-AT) fit can be
optimized.
A number of methods exist to ensure that functional goals have been met and the technology is being adopted by the client, and to demonstrate the contributions of AT to performance.
Qualitative Methods
- Check with the client and/or significant others to see if they are satisfied with the tools. Are they using the technology? Are there problems? Is additional training or support needed?
- Ask key players how performance has been affected. Does the client feel more effective at work? Does the educational assistant or teacher observe better engagement of a child in school work? Does an adult child feel his or her parent is able to take on more independent control of the home environment?
- Observe the client engaged in the natural setting and tasks the AT was intended to address. What changes or improvements do you observe? What improvements could be made? Does it appear that they have been using it, or are they doing the task using AT for your benefit?
Quantitative Methods:
- The most powerful demonstration of the functional impact of AT is data that shows improved quality or speed of performance. Performance measures must be linked to the client's goals, but might include things like
- measuring how long it takes to complete a work assignment with two alternate input methods
- comparing student academic performance before and after introduction of a screen reader
- measuring the amount of support/time support is required with or without a technology solution
- If you had the client complete a COPM at the outset, return to it. How are they rating their performance of key tasks and their satisfaction level now?
- A number of structured feedback tools exist, including
- the Quebec USER Evaluation of Satisfaction with AT
- The PIADS (PsychoSocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale) developed by Dr. Jeff Jutai, an OT at the University of Ottawa
- The MPT (Matching Person and Technology) scales developd by Dr. Marcia Scherer