. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 2.

Published in final edited form as: Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2012 Nov;91(11):984–998. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0b013e318269eceb

Table 4.

Categorization of the outcomes identified according to the Demers et al.¹⁶ framework for understanding outcomes for caregivers who assist AT users

	Studies
Effect on Primary Stressors

Caregiver injury with device use	^{31, 38}
Decreases physical effort	^{16, 34, 35}
Assists caregiver	^{32, 37, 45}
Increases efficiency of care provision	^{39, 44}
Decrease in hours of care/ frequency of assistance	^{11, 13, 27, 28, 29,30}
Increase in hours of care	²⁷
Increased physical effort transporting the device	³⁵
Vigilance	⁴¹
Effect on Secondary Stressors

Increases free time for participation in personal & shared activities	^{16, 35, 40}
Home modifications difficult to accept initially	⁴⁰

Participation-Related Outcomes
Device interferes with caregiver’s activities	⁴²
Accessibility issues may affect the caregiver’s activities	^{37, 40, 41}

Psychological Health Outcomes
Frustration with need to provide cues to use device	^{33, 43}
Increases sense of security/ decreases worry or stress	^{34, 36, 42, 44–45,}
Concern about potential injury of user	^{16, 30, 35, 40, 41,}
Concern about stigma	^{37, 40}