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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Assistive device use among the elderly
— a national data-based study | | Author(s) | Janet H Watts, Amy Elsner Erickson, Leslie Houde |
| Journal title | Physical & Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics, vol 14, no 1, 1996 |
| Pages | pp 1-18 |
| Source | Haworth Document Delivery Center, Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, USA. |
| Keywords | Assistive technology ; Self care capacity ; Health [elderly] ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Many aids are prescribed and provided for older people with disabilities to assist with activities of daily living (ADL). A sub-sample of 3,297 people aged 65 and over from the US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 1990 was selected for analysing the association of self-reported health status, activity limitation, total number of devices reported, and demographic variables. 23% reported use of any assistive device. Black respondents reported more activity limitation than respondents from other races; there was no relationship between race and total devices reported. Greater percentages of women than men have more activity limitations as well as report more than one device. Those not living with a spouse reported more than one device. Use of more devices correlated with poor health status and greater activity limitations. A weak correlation was found between higher total number of devices reported with lower income level and with greater age. Subjects with fewer activity limitations reported better health status and high levels of education. The authors conclude that therapists can help increase use by identifying patient needs, and training patients in use and care of the equipment. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980513243 A |
| Classmark | M: CA: CC: 3F: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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