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Assessing Service Delivery Systems for Assistive Technology in Brazil using HEART Study quality indicators_TD Journa (3).pdf (3.89 MB)

Assessing service delivery systems for assistive technology in Brazil using HEART study quality indicators

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journal contribution
posted on 2016-06-14, 13:31 authored by Tulio Maximo, Laurence CliftLaurence Clift
BACKGROUND: Recently in Brazil, there has been investment and improvements in the service delivery system for assistive technology provision. However, there is little documentation of this process, or evidence that users are being involved appropriately. OBJECTIVE: To understand how assistive technology service provision currently functions in Belo Horizonte city, Brazil, in order to provide context-specific interventions and recommendations to improve services. METHOD: Qualitative research design, including visits to key institutions and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Interview questions were divided with two purposes: 1) Exploratory, aiming to understand present service functioning; 2) Evaluative, aiming to assess staff difficulties in applying existing best practice. RESULTS: Assistive Technology services in Belo Horizonte fall under the `medical model' definition of the service delivery system developed by AAATE. It was also found that staff lack training and knowledge support to assess user requirements and to involve them during the decision-making process. Additionally, there is no follow-up stage after the device is delivered. CONCLUSIONS: The study clearly defines the service provision function and the staff difficulties at Belo Horizonte city, providing information for further studies.

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the Brazilian Government programme Science Without Borders.

History

School

  • Design and Creative Arts

Department

  • Design

Published in

Technology and Disability

Volume

27

Issue

4

Pages

161 - 170

Citation

MAXIMO, T. and CLIFT, L., 2016. Assessing service delivery systems for assistive technology in Brazil using HEART study quality indicators. Technology and Disability, 27 (4), pp. 161 - 170.

Publisher

IOS Press

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2016-04-19

Publication date

2016-04-13

Notes

This is an accepted version of a paper subsequently published in the journal, Technology and Disability. The final publication is available at IOS Press through http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/TAD-160438

ISSN

1878-643X

eISSN

1878-643X

Language

  • en