Assistive technology outcome measures: a literature review.

Objectives: Identifying outcome measures for individual assistive technology (AT) interventions, applicable to any kind of assistive products. Study design: Literature review. Methods: Three investigators searched and reviewed scientific papers published in sector journals in the past 13 years in relation to AT outcome measures. Results: 53 papers met the inclusion criteria. Overall, they describe 86 measures. 37 of them were found to be related to the outcome of the whole rehabilitation process rather than to AT purposely. 41 are restricted to specific categories of AT products. Only five are actually applicable to any AT products: FIATS, IPPA, PIADS, QUEST, and SCAI. In addition, three further measures were found that - although unable to fully capture the AT outcome if used alone - can add useful information on the quality of the AT intervention (KWAZO, SATS) and the individual predisposition to AT use (ATD-PA). Conclusions: A careful monitoring of the achieved outcome is an essential aspect of any individual AT interventions. This study provides a list of measures that help monitoring the intervention effectiveness and cost.