Measuring the Impact of AT on Family Caregivers - Assistive Technology Assessment - page 92

intervention. The measure is used to record the activities that caregivers provide assis-
tance with and to identify the most demanding one. The measure has three parts. The first
part identifies and enumerates all of the care recipient's activities for which the caregiver
provides assistance and the forms of assistance given, the second part (13 items) measures
the caregiver's frequency (5 = never to 1 = almost always) of elements of burden associated
with a dyad-identified activity, and the third part (4 items) captures the caregiver's per-
ceived burden of all of the assistance they provide and overall quality of life. The second
part can be administered for each activity that is selected for intervention. The psychometric
properties of this instrument are being assessed as part of the feasibility study. Initial
results ( N = 29) indicate that its second part has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.80 and the test-
retest interclass correlational coefficient (ICC) for four subjects was 0.80. The 13 domains
that are measured with the CATOM are presented in Table 5.2.

5.4.2 Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale

The Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale is a 55-item tool that measures parent's
perceptions of the impact of assistive device use on children and on themselves (Ryan
et al. 2006). The Family Impact of Assistive Technology covers eight domains (n = items
per domain): child autonomy (5), caregiver relief (9), child contentment (9), doing activi-
ties (child has control over own actions) (5), parent effort (8), family and social interaction
(child interacts with others) (4), caregiver supervision (7), and parent's concerns about
and safety (8). Parents indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with each
item using a seven-point rating scale in which lower scores indicate better outcomes.
The scale was developed with the researchers in consultation with five clinical content
experts, and seven parents reviewed preliminary items to establish content and face

TABLe 5.2
Domains for the Caregiver Assistive Technology Outcome Measure
Part 1 Areas of assistance Assistance provided to the care recipient in relation to

mobility, self-care, and communication.

Forms of assistance Assistance provided to the care recipient in terms of hands-on

help, supervision via verbal cueing, and monitoring at a
distance.

Number of tasks Number of assistive tasks provided by the caregiver.

Part 2 Time required Time required for assistance that exceeds the self-perceived

capacity of the caregiver

Safety and security of tasks Degree of risk associated with the provision of assistance.

Physical effort/work Degree of physical energy required to assist the care recipient.

Physical health Pain or strain from providing assistance.

Home modifications Degree to which assistive technology limits the use of the

space within the home.

Psychological health Degree to which the caregiver is anxious about the care

recipient and degree to which he/she is frustrated by
providing assistance.

Role overload Degree to which the caregiver feels overwhelmed.

Elective use of time Degree to which free time is reduced by caregiving tasks.

Part 3 Participation Degree to which the social roles of leisure, work, and social

life are influenced by the caregiving tasks.

Quality of life Caregiver's global evaluation of satisfaction with physical,

psychological, and social dimensions of life.