Disability and Rehabilitation-Assistive Technology最新文献

Purpose: Cognitive impairments, such as difficulties with memory, planning, organisation and information processing, are common after brain injury. Assistive Technology for Cognition (ATC) can provide support to improve independence in everyday tasks and reduce reliance on caregiver support. Recommendation and support needs to be tailored to individual factors and therefore understanding individual experiences and preferences is essential. The aim of this study was to understand the lived experience of people using ATC after brain injury.

Materials and methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven people (six people with brain injury and one caregiver) who were involved with both a Community Acquired Brain Injury Service and an Assistive Technology Service. Interviews were recorded and transcribed and analysed using principles of Framework Analysis.

Findings: We identified five themes: 1) Motivations and decisions to use ATC, 2) The anticipated and unanticipated impact of ATC, 3) ATC becoming part of everyday life, 4) Support and education from professionals (although I don't know who from) and 5) Family and friends as back-up and trouble-shooters.

Conclusion: We use the themes to illustrate factors which can help professionals to match technology to individuals and their situations and therefore potentially optimise acceptability and use for this population. Findings emphasise the importance of support from family and friends and a lack of clarity about longer-term support.

Purpose: There is a growing interest in home-based exercise for persons living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), but little is known about how they experience engaging in such interventions over time. This qualitative study explores how persons with COPD perceive and make sense of engaging in a long-term, home-based, virtual cycling intervention following hospitalisation due to exacerbation of COPD.

Materials and methods: Eleven participants with moderate to severe COPD, who had taken part in the intervention, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were analysed through a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach, involving multiple researchers in the interpretive process to ensure rigour.

Results: The analysis revealed three themes: (1) Making sense of exercise-Beliefs, habits, and personal preferences, (2) Doing what you can-Physical resources, timing, and disruption, (3) Alone but not lonely-Social presence and importance. We found that the participants' engagement was shaped by a multitude of factors. While many participants found home-based, virtual cycling enjoyable, accessible, and meaningful, others faced challenges such as lack of structure, technical difficulties, and fluctuating health. Engagement was not fixed, but shaped dynamically by individual, social, and practical circumstances.

Conclusion: These findings show that long-term, home-based, virtual cycling can be a motivating and relevant form of exercise for persons with COPD, especially the more affected. However, to sustain engagement, ongoing support and attention to individual barriers are essential.

Objective: To describe the improvements of new power wheelchair (PWC) users' performance in virtual environments during home-based training.

Materials and methods: This post hoc analysis used archival data from 24 new PWC users who participated in a two-week training program with the McGill immersive wheelchair (miWe) simulator (computer + joystick). The simulator offered six virtual environments (e.g., adapted transport, market) with three difficulty levels. Participants were instructed to practice each activity at least once, for 20 min every two days. Collisions, completion time and joystick movement fluidity were analysed across three training phases, at the beginning (T1: days 1-3), middle (T2: days 4-6) and end (T3: days 7-10) of training.

Results: Participants trained on average 9.7 times (4.9 h ± 3.1), completing 170 (±120) activities. The difficulty level chosen increased at the beginning and then remained stable. A significant effect of training phase was observed, with fewer collisions, faster completion times and smoother movements (all p < 0.001), most improvement occurring between T1 and T2. Activity-specific analyses revealed heterogeneous patterns: bathroom, market and elevator activities improved mainly from T1 to T2 and then stabilised, whereas street crossing performance remained stable, suggesting an early ceiling effect.

Conclusions: The miWe simulator seemed well accepted and could support engagement of new PWC users in improving driving skills from home. Given activity-dependent plateaus and users' tendency not to select the highest difficulty, future research should explore optimal difficulty adjustments, integrate more complex scenarios and compare outcomes with experienced users to refine training strategies and maximise the learning potential of the simulator.

Introduction: Physical activity is widely recognised as effective in preventing and managing non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Digital health innovations can facilitate the delivery of physical exercise programs for this population. Digital therapeutics (DTx) could transform healthcare delivery, including how digital exercise therapy is provided. We aim to perform a scoping review to systematically explore whether and how exercise is provided by DTx for preventing and managing NCDs.

Methods: This protocol follows the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews and is reported according to JBI best practice guidance. A comprehensive search strategy will be performed in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane, PEDro and Google to identify existing DTx for preventing and treating NCDs, and which of those provide exercise therapy as intervention. Key data of the included studies will be charted descriptively and supplemented by summary tables.

Ethics and dissemination: This scoping review does not require ethics review and approval. Our target audience for this review will be DTx manufacturers, health policy makers, clinicians, researchers, patients and other relevant stakeholders, in order to highlight gaps and potential of physical exercise provided by DTx. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, online platforms and conference presentations.

Protocol registration number: https://osf.io/fyqt8.

Assistive technology in adaptive sports has become a transformative force for individuals with disabilities. It helps disabled athletes to overcome physical and cognitive barriers to participate in sports. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of assistive technology in adaptive sports to examine its development, key themes, and emerging trends. The analysis used data from 8,660 documents across 2,137 sources retrieved from the Scopus database from 1987 to 2025. The result shows that due to advancements in technology and increased awareness of inclusivity in sports, the research output grows exponentially after 2010. Among these research outputs, the most used theme was rehabilitation. The other emerging topics incorporated into adaptive sports are virtual reality, brain-computer interfaces, wearable technologies. Further, the co-occurrence network analysis reveals that there are strong interdisciplinary connections between rehabilitation, assistive technology, and physical activity. However, several areas remain unexplored such as digital health and telehealth applications in adaptive sports. Thus, bibliometric analysis provides a roadmap for future research by identifying critical trends and gaps. This study highlights the interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation in advancing accessibility and inclusivity for athletes with disabilities.

A new approach to improve powered wheelchairs users' driving ability and enhance their quality of life is described. The approach installed on shared powered mobility platforms used by multiple users, reducing time and effort required by helpers to adjust user settings and increase the driving duration. This paper presents development and preliminary testing of four integrated systems based on stakeholder consultation. The development process involved interviews with helpers, caregivers and occupational therapists at Chailey Heritage Foundation, alongside clinical observations. These consultations identified that driving sessions typically lasted 50-60 min, with significant time for setup, leaving short duration for actual driving. Based on these findings, four integrated systems working collaboratively were developed: facial recognition for user identification using one-shot learning, Digital Scanning Collision Avoidance Device range control, contactless Infra-red sensor input and automated session data collection. Prototype testing was conducted. The facial recognition system successfully identified users and correctly rejected non-registered users. The digital range system provided faster response and more options than original hardware. The contactless input system operated silently without generating clicking sounds and included an auto-calibrate function. All systems demonstrated successful integration, with driving session data collected and stored for future analysis. Preliminary observations indicated reduced setup time and increased driving time. The integrated approach reduced setup time and effort required by caregivers while increasing driving time. The systems showed proficient synergy and improved user autonomy. Future controlled trials are needed to quantify these improvements and statistically analyse data.

Background: Outdoor navigation poses significant challenges for people with blindness or low vision, yet the role of gaze behaviour in supporting mobility remains underexplored. Fully sighted individuals typically adopt consistent scanning strategies, whereas those with visual impairments rely on heterogeneous adaptations shaped by residual vision and experience.

Methods: We conducted a comparative eye-tracking study of fully sighted, low vision, blind, and fully blind participants navigating outdoor routes. Using a wearable eye tracker, we quantified fixation counts, fixation rate, fixation area, direction, peak fixation location, and walking speed.

Results: Walking speed declined systematically with worsening vision. Fixation count increased with greater impairment, reflecting slower travel times and more frequent sampling. Fixation rate differed across groups, though between-group differences were generally not significant between most groups. Fixation spatial coverage decreased along the continuum of vision loss. Fixation patterns were most consistent in the fully sighted group. Peak fixation locations were centred in fully sighted participants but shifted outward and became more variable with impairment.

Conclusion: Gaze strategies during navigation form a graded continuum across vision groups, with fully sighted and fully blind participants at opposite poles and low vision and blind groups spanning the middle. Visual acuity alone does not predict functional gaze use, as rehabilitation experience and adaptive strategies strongly shape behaviour. These findings highlight the need for personalised rehabilitation and assistive technologies, with residual gaze patterns offering insight into mobility capacity and training opportunities for safer navigation.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONDistinct Residual Vision Patterns: This research reveals that residual vision patterns differ significantly, with fully sighted individuals exhibiting a consistent fixation pattern while low vision participants show more varied strategies during navigation.Highly Individualised Gaze Behaviours: Low vision participants demonstrate highly individualised gaze behaviours, indicating that a one-size-fits-all approach is inadequate for effective rehabilitation.Tailored Assistive Solutions: Assistive technologies and rehabilitation programs should be designed to address these unique, individualised needs, providing personalised feedback and training to enhance mobility and safety.

Objectives: This is the first nationwide study focusing exclusively on blind boarding schools in Ethiopia. The study examined the experiences and perceptions of Ethiopian blind boarding school teachers regarding pre-braille skills, unified English braille, and braille (mathematics, technology, usage, and inclusivity).

Methods: Seven blind boarding schools and their 110 teachers (98.21%) were involved using the census sampling technique. Researchers collected data through questionnaires and analysed it using Bayesian and ordinal logistic regression.

Results: Teachers were more likely to favour situations with insufficient teaching materials and limited exposure to pre-braille implementation (95% credible interval of OR: [1.138, 1.592]; OR = 1.345). Teachers without visual impairment perceived braille maths content as difficult and lacked access to learn and access mathematics in braille (95% credible interval of OR is [1.075, 2.102]; OR = 1.503). Agreement on the need for special classes in inclusive settings was significantly higher for students with visual impairment (OR = 4.61, p = 0.001). Voice recorders (OR = 4.85, p = 0.003) and text-to-speech software (OR = 3.61, p = 0.001) significantly hindered braille development and adoption. Participants showed slight motivational agreement on technology in braille instruction (OR = 1.09, p = 0.003) and strong agreement regarding improved learning outcomes (OR = 469.21, p = 0.001).

Conclusions: Further research should investigate UEB awareness and the impact of braille technologies on students with visual impairments' academic performances. Teachers and curriculum developers should emphasise pre-braille skills, braille maths, braille tech, and transcription services.

Purpose: This study investigates the factors influencing parental adoption of subscription-based customised children's assistive devices (SBCC-ADs) in Taiwan, a market traditionally dominated by one-time purchases and government subsidies.

Methods: By Integrating the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study examines the roles of relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, while incorporating perceived risk as a potential moderator. Data collected from 108 parents of children with disabilities were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Results: The results demonstrated strong predictive power (R2=0.774), identifying relative advantage (β= 0.225, p < 0.01) and perceived ease of use (β = 0.398, p < 0.001) as the primary drivers of adoption intention. Notably, in the specific context of Taiwan, compatibility, trialability, and perceived usefulness did not yield statistically significant effects. Furthermore, perceived risk did not significantly moderate the relationship between primary innovation factors and adoption intention.

Conclusions: These empirical findings suggest that the adoption of SBCC-ADs is primarily driven by perceived value and perceived usability. This study highlights the need for user-friendly service design and transparent communication to support the inclusive adoption of assistive technology in disability and rehabilitation, providing actionable insights for marketing, design and policy development.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine differences in upper limb kinematics and muscle activation between pushing and pulling propulsion methods during manual wheelchair use in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Materials and methods: Twenty manual wheelchair users with SCI participated in this study. Upper limb joint kinematics were assessed using a three-dimensional motion capture system with ten VICON cameras, and muscle activity of eight upper-limb muscles was measured using wireless surface electromyography. Participants performed wheelchair propulsion using both pushing and pulling methods with a two-way propulsion system.

Results: Compared with pushing propulsion, pulling propulsion resulted in significantly longer propulsion time and greater ranges of motion in the shoulder and elbow joints. In addition, pulling propulsion elicited significantly higher activation of posterior upper-limb and trunk muscles, whereas pushing propulsion predominantly activated anterior shoulder muscles.

Conclusions: Pushing and pulling propulsion methods produce distinct upper limb kinematic and muscle activation patterns in manual wheelchair users with SCI. Pulling propulsion promotes greater posterior muscle engagement and joint mobility, suggesting its potential as an alternative propulsion strategy to redistribute upper limb muscular load during wheelchair use.