Difficulties experienced by older adults when not using assistive devices

Abstract

Background Assistive Devices are those external tools created, manufactured, or modified to help a person do a specific task. Many people, especially the elderly, rely on assistive devices to do daily tasks, engage fully and successfully in social interactions, and enhance their quality of life. Older age people face many difficulties in their day-to-day activities. If they require but do not have or use assistive devices, they may experience significant impairment and difficulty. Assistive devices make a tremendous difference in the lives of the elderly. Objective To assess the difficulties experienced by the elderly when not using assistive devices. To study the relationship between age and difficulties experienced by the elderly when not using assistive devices. Methods A self-structured checklist on the difficulties experienced by elderly who were not using assistive devices and the analysis of data in percentage, frequency, t-test, and ANOVA. Results We found that various problems such as mobility difficulties, vision and hearing problems, dementia, and inability to do activities of daily living were experienced by the elderly when not using assistive devices. Among all the problems, using communication devices and vision problems were the difficulties faced by the majority of respondents.