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BACKGROUND: The importance of providing accessible and accurate information on Assistive Technology products to all the stakeholders needing it is widely acknowledged. A standardization in the description of assistive products can facilitate the selection of the products that best match the individual needs. Furthermore the definition of a standard for describing product technical details is needed for building up the knowledge base for Decision Support Systems. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our work was the development of a Taxonomy that can be used to standardize the description of ICT-Based assistive products. METHODS: The taxonomy described in this paper has been developed by the ETNA project – a EU-funded Thematic Network that has been carried out within the framework of the European Assistive Technology Information Network (EASTIN). The taxonomy has been built trough a consensus procedure within the ETNA consortium. RESULTS: The taxonomy is based on a two-level hierarchy of Clusters and Features, and has been connected to the thirdlevel categories of the ISO 9999 standard “Assistive Products for Persons with Disability – Classification and terminology”. A procedure has also been defined to manage the continuous update of the taxonomy. CONCLUSIONS: The taxonomy has been implemented on the EASTIN information system, the web portal of the European Assistive Technology Information Network.

Background: Service robots may offer an innovative assistive solution to improve the quality of life of frail elderly people, by assisting them in specific situations identified as relevant to maintain independence. Objective: This paper describes the results of a qualitative and quantitative research based on a user-centered methodology carried out within the EU-funded project "Multi-Role Shadow Robotic System for Independent Living" (SRS), aiming to generate user requirements and realistic usage scenarios maximizing the alignment with users' needs, perceptions, feelings and rights. Methods: A qualitative and quantitative research - based on focus groups (59 participants) and questionnaires (129 respondents) - was carried out in three countries: Italy, Spain and Germany. The survey involved prospective end-users (elderly people and family members who care for them), caregivers, and geriatric experts. Results: Results show that despite elderly people encounter difficulties in many activities of daily life, a semi-autonomous remotely-controlled and self-learning service robot has been judged an interesting solution only in some circumstances. Moni- toring and managing emergency situations, helping with reaching, fetching and carrying objects that are too heavy or positioned in unreachable places: these are tasks for which robotic support has been widely accepted, while tasks involving direct physical contact between the person and the robot are not appreciated instead. Relatives of the elderly could act as remote operators; however, family psychological burden and time restrictions should be considered too. Conclusions: A tele-operated robotic system may be of help for frailelderly people. In certain cases this solution may be effective only in conjunction with a 24-hour professional Service Centre able to manage tele-operation when relatives are not available. This survey adds further tokens of knowledge to previous literature studies on this subject; it compares the potential users' and the professionals' views; it helps identifying potentially successful applications of tele-operated robots in the care of elderly people living at home. The results obtained by the present study, generated specific requirements and the first versions of concrete usage scenarios, enabling designers and technologists to start with a first development phase of the SRS concept.

A new method for assessing preference based outcome measures in rehabilitation with assistive devices is reported. The method uses a standard utility instrument, the EuroQol, with complementary items on mobility and social relationships. In addition, a problem solving scale (PIRS) is introduced. Validation has been carried out in a multicenter study of mobility, hearing and communication devices. Utilities and problem solving scores covary strongly for mobility interventions but not for those dealing with communication. So far it is not explained whether the investigated communication interventions result in moderate utility gain only, or whether there is a bias in the corresponding utility scores. Further research on this has been started. The issue of deriving utility weights for the PIRS has also been started. We recommend the described method to be used for cost-utility analyses of rehabilitation measures for disabled persons.

IPPA (Individually Prioritised Problem Assessment) is a new instrument to assess the effectiveness of assistive technology provision. It assesses the impact that problems have on daily life as perceived by the end-user. In an international trial, 248 clients of service delivery centres were interviewed using the instrument, of whom 188 also participated in a follow-up interview. Respondents had problems in mobility, hearing, speech-related communication or self-care. In addition to IPPA, SIP68 and EuroQol were administered for validation purposes. The instrument fits well into the process of service delivery (and even facilitates the actual assessment). The direction of changes measured by IPPA is consistent with the direction of changes measured by SIP68 and EuroQol, supporting construct validity. Changes measured by IPPA are considerably larger, supporting our view that solving problems is a key outcome in provision of assistive devices. Results support the ideas behind the instrument and are promising enough to continue.