Challenges and strategies for the development and diffusion of assistive technologies

Assistive Technology (AT) facilitates daily life activities for individuals with disabilities and the elderly, helping them adapt to physical tasks and social interactions with family, friends, and colleagues. Despite its potential to promote autonomy and independence, numerous barriers often hinder AT's integration and accessibility. This research aims to systematically identify and analyse the barriers and challenges that hinder the widespread adoption and accessibility of AT and propose practical solutions to overcome them.

A Systematic Literature Review (RSL) was employed as the primary methodological approach, followed by the application of VOSviewer and Statistica Software to ensure a rigorous analysis of the data and the formation of clusters of barriers, which were subsequently grouped to allow a standardised, didactic exploration and segmented of the similarities between the identified obstacles.

The analysis identified thirteen clusters, the most prevalent in the literature being the "Financial and Knowledge Access Barriers".

This study provides a comprehensive examination of the challenges obstructing the accessibility and implementation of AT, offering targeted strategies to mitigate these barriers and improve the integration of AT for its end users.