College of Education, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA.
School of Computing, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA.
J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2025 Jan;38(1):e13306. doi: 10.1111/jar.13306.
Assistive technology (AT) has been successfully used by researchers and practitioners to increase task completion and independence in work and home environments for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While prior research has shown increased outcomes of incorporating AT into daily tasks, research has also indicated that actual use of AT in these settings is much lower.
The current qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with a sample of 25 adults (22 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and three job coaches) to examine the perceived use and implementation of AT into home and work environments, along with potential challenges and barriers. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.
Three themes were identified: (1) technologies used to support daily living skills, (2) technologies used to support employment and (3) challenges and barriers to using technologies.
Findings indicate that while individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are using a variety of AT in their homes both successfully and independently, they have extremely limited use in their workplaces. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
辅助技术（AT）已被研究人员和从业者成功用于提高智力和发育障碍者在工作和家庭环境中完成任务和实现独立的能力。虽然先前的研究表明将 AT 纳入日常任务会带来更好的结果，但研究也表明，在这些环境中实际使用 AT 的情况要低得多。
本研究采用半结构化访谈的方法，对 25 名成年人（22 名智力和发育障碍者和 3 名工作教练）进行了抽样调查，以研究在家中和工作环境中对 AT 的感知使用和实施情况，以及潜在的挑战和障碍。访谈采用主题分析方法进行分析。
确定了三个主题：（1）用于支持日常生活技能的技术，（2）用于支持就业的技术，（3）使用技术的挑战和障碍。
研究结果表明，智力和发育障碍者在家中成功且独立地使用了多种 AT，但在工作场所的使用极为有限。讨论了对实践和未来研究的影响。
