Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Despite the scarcity of scientific works focusing on the relations between personal fac-
tors and the assignment of suitable AT according to a bio-psycho-social perspective, the
personal factors emerge as central to successful matching. Therefore, the most skilled pro-
fessional profile in the knowledge of individual features and behavior is definitely that of
the psychologist.
8.5 The Psychologist in a Center for Technical Aid:
The Specialist in Personal Factors
As stated by Scherer, Craddock, and MacKeogh,
People's predispositions to, expectations for, and reactions to ATD [assistive technology
device] use are highly individualised and personal. These predispositions, expectations
and reactions emerge from such influences as varying needs, abilities, preferences and
past experiences with and exposures to technologies. Importantly, predispositions to
use support (as well as realised benefits from use) also depend on one's sense of well-
being and satisfaction with current performance of activities and participation in daily
life events (2011, p. 812).
Of all of the professionals making up the multidisciplinary team, the psychologist is the
one who, in terms of curriculum and training, is the greatest expert in personal factors as
they are conceptualized by ICF, expertise that he or she only partly shares with the psy-
chotechnologist (see Chapter 9). The psychotechnologist's skills are more focused on the
technological side of matching the person with technology and are less oriented to clinical
and psychological dimensions of human-technology interaction:
The psychotechnologist is an expert of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT), in particular in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and human factors and he or
she analyses the relations emerging from the person-technology interaction by taking
into account: a) all the psychological and cognitive components […]; b) the possibilities
of adapting and designing eSystems and eServices in an adaptable and accessible man-
ner (eAccessibility) (Chapter 9 of this text, p. xxx).
Division 22 of the American Psychological Association, by reporting Scherer and col-
leagues' entire entry of
The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
(2004),
remarks that the “rehabilitation psychologist works with the individual with a disability
to address personal factors impacting on the ICF domains of activities and participation”
(2004, p. 802). Moreover, it illustrates most of the issues that should be investigated by a
psychologist in a center for technical aid:
Neurocognitive status, mood and emotions, desired level of independence and interde-
pendence, mobility and freedom of movement, self-esteem and self-determination, and
subjective view of capabilities and quality of life as well as satisfaction with achieve-
ments in specific areas such as work, social relationships, and being able to go where
one wishes beyond the mere physical capability to do so. (Scherer et al. 2004, p. 802)
Because the psychologist works on the adaptive changes on the human side of the person-
environment polarity, he or she should take care to know the features and properties of
the personal factors. One of the most relevant categorizations focuses on which personal
