ASSISTIVE DEVICES FOR HOME-BASED OLDER STROKE SURVIVORS

The University at Buffalo Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center ( RERC) on Aging is conducting a longitudinal study of assistive device needs of older persons with disabilities. This article examines the re sults of interviews with a sub-sample from this study, 30 persons over the age of 60 years who have had a stroke. Results indicate that this population are assistive device users: they own a mean of 16 devices per person and use a mean of 12.6 devices (80% of the devices they own ). These older subjects express a need for additional devices, yet lac k up-to-date information on devices available in the marketplace. In e xamining the home environment, the bathroom presents the largest numbe r of problems for older stroke survivors, followed by the kitchen-room s where many basic activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are carried out. Recommendations fo r service providers are included in this article.