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Published on: June 20, 2020
Development of the new Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale
Stephen Ryan1, Kent A Campbell, Patricia Rigby
1Bloorview Research Institute, Bloorview Kids Rehab, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. sryan@bloorview.ca
Insights
Assistive technology can reduce caregiver stress for families with children with physical disabilities. The new Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale shows promise in measuring these benefits.
Area of Science:
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Assistive Technology Research
- Family Studies
Background:
- Children with physical disabilities often require increased care, impacting family well-being.
- Higher caregiving demands correlate with negative psychological and physical health outcomes for families.
- Assistive technologies (AT) may alleviate caregiver stress by enhancing child function and autonomy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale (FIATS).
- To assess the initial development and validity of the FIATS.
- To evaluate the multidimensional effects of AT on families with young children with disabilities.
Main Methods:
- Conducted structured evaluations for content and face validity.
- Involved 14 clinical experts and parents of children with cerebral palsy.
- Assessed proposed constructs and items of the FIATS.
Main Results:
- Clinical experts confirmed FIATS includes key variables for AT impact assessment.
- Parents found the preliminary FIATS items relevant and clear.
- Initial testing supports the FIATS's validity for measuring AT effects on families.
Conclusions:
- The Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale is a promising new measure.
- FIATS demonstrates initial content and face validity for assessing AT's family impact.
- Further research will establish the reliability and validity of the FIATS.
Abstract:
Children with physical disabilities generally require more care, attention and direct supervision than children without disabilities. Research demonstrates that these higher care-giving demands are associated with poorer psychological and physical health states for parents and other family members. Assistive technologies may have a role in mitigating caregiver stress and burden by improving functional performance, social interaction and autonomy in children with physical disabilities. In this paper, we report on the initial development and testing of the Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale - a new measure designed to detect the multidimensional effect of assistive device use on families who have young children with disabilities. To study the content validity and face validity of the Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale, we conducted structured evaluations of the proposed constructs and items with 14 clinical experts and parents of young children with cerebral palsy. Experts agreed that the Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale contains the key variables needed to study the effect of assistive technology use on child and family functioning. Parents concurred that items on the preliminary version were relevant and clear. Further research is planned to estimate the reliability and other aspects of validity of the Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale.
