Factors influencing utilisation of assistive devices by the elderly in China: a community-based cross-sectional study

The study aimed to gain an insight into the utilisation, self-perceived needs, and attitudes towards and influencing factors of assistive device (AD) usage among community-dwelling older adults in China.

This is a cross-sectional study.

A total of 5790 elderly people from eight communities within three provinces in China were recruited by convenience sampling. Utilisation, needs and attitudes towards ADs were assessed by a questionnaire designed by the authors. Barthel activities of daily living scale was used to determine disability, whereas cognitive function was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination. The impact of participant characteristics, enabling factors and demand factors on the utilisation of ADs were assessed by univariate and multifactor analyses.

The prevalence of AD ownership among participants was 10.9% (n = 634), whereas the self-perceived need for ADs was 46.1% (n = 2670). Most participants had negative attitudes towards ADs, with only 37.6% (n = 2175) of participants believing that ADs were of significant help. Factors influencing the usage of ADs included participant characteristics (age, occupation, living area, education), enabling factors (economic situation, number of children) and demand factors (activities of daily living score, attitudes, self-perceived needs).

Although ADs for the elderly in China have become more affordable and accessible after a series of reforms, there remains a gap in AD services resulting in low AD utilisation, high self-perceived needs and misconceptions of ADs. Certain factors influencing the use of ADs are more significant than others. The findings from this study will be informative for healthcare providers and decision-makers when designing strategies to achieve universal elderly AD usage.