@article{ref1,
title="The smart-home study: a feasibility study to pilot the use of smartphone technology to identify environmental falls risk factors in the home",
journal="Hong Kong journal of occupational therapy",
year="2023",
author="Leung, Ka Ho Marco and Brandis, Susan",
volume="36",
number="1",
pages="3-12",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: While occupational therapy home assessments are effective to identify environmental falls risk factors, patients may not receive these services due to workforce distribution and geographical distances. Technology may offer a new way for occupational therapists to conduct home assessments to identify environmental fall risks. <br><br>OBJECTIVES: To (i) explore the feasability of identifying environmental risk factors using smartphone technology, (ii) develop and pilot a suite of procedures for taking smartphone images and (iii) examine the inter-rater reliability and content validity between occupational therapists when assessing smartphone images using a standardised assessment tool. <br><br>METHOD: Following ethical approval a procedure was developed and participants recruited to submit smartphone images of their bedroom, bathroom and toilet. Two independent occupational therapists then assessed these images using a home safety checklist. <br><br>FINDINGS were analysed using inferential and descriptive statistics. <br><br>RESULTS: Of 100 volunteers screened, 20 individuals participated. A guideline for instructing patients to take home images was developed and tested. Participants averaged 9.00 minutes (SD 4.401) to complete the task, whilst occupational therapists took approximately 8 minutes to review the images. The inter-rater reliability between the two therapists was 0.740 (95% CI: 0.452-0.888). <br><br>CONCLUSION: The study found that use of smartphones was to a large extent feasible and conclude that the use of smartphone technologies is a potential complimentary service to traditional home visits. The effective prescription of equipment in this trial was identified as a challenge. The impact on costs and potential falls incidents remains uncertain and more research is warranted in representative populations.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1569-1861",
doi="10.1177/15691861231155994",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15691861231155994"
}