Assistive Technology to Support Dementia Management: Protocol for a Scoping Review of Reviews.

Background: In Canada, more than 60% of persons living with dementia reside in their own homes, and over 25% rely heavily on their care partners (ie, family members or friends) for assistance with daily activities such as personal hygiene, eating, and walking. Assistive technology (AT) is a key dementia management strategy, helping to maintain health and social support in home and community settings. AT comprises assistive products and services required for safe and effective use.

Dementia Rehabilitation Training for General Practitioners and Practice Nurses: Does It Make a Difference?

Background/objectives: Rehabilitation helps reduce disability in dementia. The Australian National Dementia Action Plan identifies a gap in clear treatment pathways post-diagnosis, affecting the quality of life for those with dementia. This study assessed the impact of a one-day dementia training course and follow-up on GPs' and practice nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and confidence regarding dementia rehabilitation.

Manual wheelchair training approaches and intended training outcomes for adults who are new to wheelchair use: A scoping review.

Introduction: Wheelchair training is pivotal for safety, independence, and occupational engagement in the community, yet adults coming into wheelchair use often receive insufficient or untailored training. This research aimed to understand the range and type of manual wheelchair training approaches that exist for adults commencing wheelchair use.

Method: A systematic scoping review involved searching eight electronic databases and grey literature up to September 2023.

The Right to Rehabilitation for People With Dementia: A Codesign Approach to Barriers and Solutions.

Introduction: People with dementia of all ages have a human right to equal access to quality health care. Despite evidence regarding its effectiveness, many people living with dementia are unable to access rehabilitation for promoting function and quality of life. Conducted in Australia, this study was designed to (1) explore barriers to access to dementia rehabilitation and (2) identify solutions that improve access to rehabilitation.

A Global Environmental Scan of Competencies for Mobility Assistive Product Provision.

Competencies defined in practice standards and frameworks promote safe and effective healthcare by underpinning training curricula and service standards. The provision of mobility assistive products involves a range of professionals, each guided by various standards and frameworks that define various competencies. This environmental scan aimed to identify global resources containing professional competencies applicable to mobility assistive product provision and to compare them against a gold standard.

Financial inclusion for people with disability: a scoping review.

Background: Financial exclusion is a human rights issue affecting health equity. Evidence demonstrates that financial exclusion is exacerbated for people with disability and those in low- to middle-income countries (LMIC). Barriers to financial access include limited demand for services, banking inadequacies in catering to people with disability, and insufficiently accessible information technologies (ICT) and infrastructure.

Guidelines for assistive technology service provision - A scoping review.

Purpose: Despite the high unmet need for effective AT provision, multiple service delivery models across different countries, and a shortage of personnel trained in this field, no widely useable and accepted Assistive Technology (AT) service provision guidelines currently exist. This review aims to provide an overview of the literature regarding AT service provision guidelines to inform the development of globally useable AT provision guidance, aligned with contemporary global initiatives to improve access to AT.

Materials And Methods: The rapid scoping review method used a two-tiered approach to identifying relevant publications: (1) systematic search of academic databases (Medline, CINAHL, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar); (2) consultation with international AT organisations and experts.

Symptoms of depression and risk of emergency department visits among people aged 70 years and over.

Background: Older people experiencing depression and anxiety have higher rates of health service utilisation than others, but little is known about whether these influence their seeking of emergency care. The aim was to examine the associations between symptoms of depression and the use of emergency health care, in an Australian context, among a population of people aged 70 years and over initially free of cardiovascular disease, dementia or major physical disability.

Methods: We undertook secondary analyses of data from a large cohort of community-dwelling Australians aged [Formula: see text]70 years.

Creating a consumer-driven global community of practice to support action within environmental design with people living with dementia: assistive technology challenges and opportunities.

The environment, and assistive technologies as part of this, can play an important role in supporting the participation and wellbeing of people living with dementia. If not considered, environments can be overwhelming and disempowering. Disability approaches including environmental considerations and assistive technology were often not offered routinely with people living with dementia.

Measuring what matters: a descriptive participatory case evaluation of a tool for measuring outcomes of assistive technology after acquired brain injury.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) can lead to the need to plan for housing, assistive technology and support to meet a person's goals. Recent Australian policy reforms have brought about opportunities for person-centred approaches to assistive technology (AT) product selection, and the opportunity for users of supports such as assistive technology and environmental adaptations to describe and measure their own outcomes. My AT Outcomes Framework (MyATOF) is an Australian tool designed for use by AT users and their support networks to articulate supports, outcomes, costs, and service delivery experiences.

Who cares for the carer? Codesigning a carer health and wellbeing clinic for older care partners of older people in Australia.

Introduction: Older carers or 'care partners' of older people experiencing care needs often provide essential support, at times while neglecting their own health and well-being. This is an increasingly frequent scenario due to both demographic changes and policy shifts towards ageing in place. Multiple community stakeholders within the care and support ecosystem hold valuable expertise about the needs of older care partners, and the programme and policy responses that may better support their health and well-being.

Digital Capabilities of Older People and Uptake of Online Healthy Ageing Interventions: An Australian Study.

The promise of digital health interventions is tempered by the realities of digital capabilities and infrastructure, especially for older persons. This paper critically examines learnings from a rapid evidence review of digital information tools along with a study evaluating the uptake of a digitally-based healthy ageing intervention by 53 older Australians. Findings suggest that digital literacy is an important precursor to engagement with digital information tools, and that digital information tools must be designed with digital literacy in mind.

Unpacking 'What Works': A Commentary of the Key Learnings for ICT from the AT2030 Program.

The AT2030 programme was launched in 2018 to test 'what works' in getting assistive technology (AT) to people globally, specifically in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), where there is often a systematic lack of provision. After four years, this paper reviews the project outcomes, focussing on published material. It provides the backdrop to the AT2030 program, contextualises current developments in global AT global and funding, and unpacks the key learnings of what works to get AT to the people that need it around the world, with a focus on ICT.

Digital Enabling Assistive Technology Through the Provision Lens - A Global Perspective in a Nordic Context.

The Nordic healthcare system is well-established, taxation-based, and locally administered, featuring person-centered care as a social welfare pillar. Public provision of assistive technology and welfare technology within healthcare systems means every citizen has equal access to services. But how well are policies and procedures keeping pace with demographic changes and technology developments?.

My assistive technology outcomes framework: rights-based outcome tools for consumers to 'measure what matters'.

AT outcomes research is the systematic investigation of changes produced by AT in the lives of AT users and their environments. In contrast to focal outcome measures, My Assistive Technology Outcomes Framework (MyATOF) envisions an alternative starting point, co-designing a holistic and evidence-based set of outcome dimensions enabling AT users to quantify their own outcomes. International classification systems, research evidence, regulatory and service delivery frameworks underpin six optional tools: supports, outcomes, costs, rights, service delivery pathway and customer experience.

Towards Co-Design in Delivering Assistive Technology Interventions: Reconsidering Roles for Consumers, Allied Health Practitioners, and the Support Workforce.

A complexity of factors, from health and technology innovations to policy redesign to achieve consumer-directed care, are impacting traditional roles for Australian allied health practitioners (AHPs). This pilot study considers roles for AHPs in relation to assistive technology (AT) interventions. Articulating 'who does what' may serve a number of purposes including de-professionalization of the discourse; better utilization of support networks and workforces; and alignment with contemporary policy.

Understanding the Role, Quality of Life and Strategies Used by Older Carers of Older People to Maintain Their Own Health and Well-Being: A National Australian Survey.

Introduction: Carers play a critical role in supporting older people with health problems to remain living at home. This study aimed to understand the role and quality of life of older carers of older people and identify strategies used to manage their own health and well-being.

Methods: Older carers (aged ≥50 years) of older people (aged ≥65 years) in Australia participated in a cross-sectional survey focused on carer roles, self-rated health, information and activities used to maintain their carer role and health, barriers to accessing health care, and assessment of quality of life (QoL) using the Dementia Quality of Life Scale for Older Family Carers.

Informal carers' support needs, facilitators and barriers in the transitional care of older adults: A qualitative study.

Introduction: Inclusion of informal carers in transitional care is challenging because of fast throughput and service fragmentation. This study aimed to understand informal carers' needs during the care transitions of older adults from inpatient care to the community.

Methods: A qualitative exploratory design was used with mixed-methods data collection.

Standard terminology is critical to advancing rehabilitation and assistive technology: a call to action.

This perspective piece discusses inconsistencies in assistive technology (AT) language as a barrier to communication in AT provision, research, development, trade, and policy. The imperative to improve communication is explored in relation to AT stakeholder endeavours. This commentary is a call for action to develop a terminology standard through the aggregation of evidence-based concepts and terms to inform and optimize stakeholder outcomes.

Housing and Support for People with Disability: Perspectives of Motor Accident, Disability and Injury Insurers across Australia and New Zealand.

Housing is a critical enabler of a dignified life, civic participation and the achievement of human rights. Providing appropriate housing for people who experience neurotrauma as a result of road or workplace injury, with both the assistive technology and human support required, continues however to be a policy and practice challenge. Australian and New Zealand motor accident, disability and injury insurers have high and enduring liability in this area, and their under-researched perspectives are needed to strengthen the evidence base for policy and practice development.

Assistive Technology during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: The Roles of Government and Civil Society in Fulfilling the Social Contract.

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed significant challenges to users of assistive technology (AT). Three key issues emerged from a series of structured qualitative interviews with 35 AT users in six low- and middle-income countries. These were (1) access to information about COVID-19 and available supports and policies, (2) insufficiency of the government response to meet the needs of AT users, and (3) the response of civil society which partially offset the gap in government response.

Assistive technology for people with deafblindness in Southern Africa: a Delphi study exploring dimensions of impact.

Purpose: Assistive technology (AT) is a highly effective intervention to address the capability gap for people living with deafblindness. The My AT Outcomes Framework (MyATOF) is a novel Australian framework founded upon AT process principles and outcomes research. It guides stakeholders to articulate AT use according to 6 dimensions.