The Impact of Assistive Technologies on Quality of Life and Psychosocial Well-Being

Health-related quality of life is a comprehensive term to describe a person's experiences of health and illness. Quality of life (QOL) is a dynamic psychological construct encompassing interacting subjective and objective dimensions; thus, it is not directly observable. There is no gold standard for measuring quality of life due to the differing interests of doctors, caregivers, patients, and researchers. This chapter examines the research needs in the area of improving QoL through the proper implementation of AT. The authors also make recommendations for incorporating the needs of users and caregivers in the design, deployment, and use of AT to reduce device abandonment.