Table 1.
Derivation and content of descriptive and analytical themes.
| Overarching themes and corresponding descriptive theme | Derived from | Example expressions and citations | |
| Theme 1: Promoting hand and arm performance | |||
|
|
Goal-oriented exercises | [15,19,27-31] | Therapists stated that training should be oriented at a patient’s goal(s) and his/her ability to accomplish these goal(s). [29] |
|
|
Repetition | [16,28,29,31] | |
|
|
Intensity | [16,29,30] | |
|
|
Active contribution | [15,19,28,31] | |
|
|
Focus on hand and arm | [5,16,27] | |
| Theme 2: Attitude toward technology | |||
|
|
Motivation | [5,16,27-29,31] | All participants believed that using home-based technology aimed at arm exercises would help them perform more arm exercises. It will motivate them to engage more in the exercise program. [27] |
|
|
Familiarity and affinity with technology | [28,31] | |
|
|
Digital security and privacy | [29,31] | |
| Theme 3: Decision process | |||
|
|
Knowledge | [5,16,31] | All patient participants were keen to self-manage. They were all actively engaged in looking for solutions to promote arm recovery and were prepared to spend time and, if necessary, money on potential solutions, including assistive technologies. [16] |
|
|
Evidence-based practice | [5,16] | |
|
|
Advice | [5,16,28] | |
|
|
Time investment | [16] | |
|
|
Safety aspects regulations | [19,27] | |
|
|
Trust and expected usefulness | [5,16,27,28,31] | |
|
|
Independence and self-management | [5,16,27-30] | |
|
|
Money | [5,16,27,30,31] | |
| Theme 4: Usability | |||
|
|
Donning/doffing | [15,16,19] | For stroke survivors and families, the devices needed to be easy to get on and off a weak and/or contracted hand/arm...and to be intuitive in terms of correctly positioning the device. [16] |
|
|
Setup | [5,16,27-29,31] | |
|
|
Initialization | [15,28,29,31] | |
|
|
Portable | [16,27,29,30] | |
|
|
Robustness | [5,27,29] | |
|
|
Instruction on exercises | [29,31] | |
|
|
Comfort | [5,15,19] | |
|
|
Lightweight | [15,19] | |
|
|
Ease of use | [5,15,16,27-29,31] | |
|
|
Compliant | [16,19,27,28,30,31] | |
|
|
Adjustment to patient | [16,19,28,29] | |
|
|
Technical support | [27] | |
|
|
Maintenance | [16,27] | |
| Theme 5: Applicability in practice | |||
|
|
Monitoring | [15,27,29,30] | Hardware and software design of technology should facilitate adaptation to individual stroke survivors or patient target groups and to patient progression over time. [29] |
|
|
Feedback | [15,16,28-30] | |
|
|
Wrongly executed movements | [29,30] | |
|
|
Fatigue and overtraining | [30] | |
|
|
Adaptability (patient progression, task setting, and patient group diversity) | [15,19,27-31] | |
|
|
Physical comfort | [5,16,19,28,30] | |