A scoping review to explore the health, social and economic outcomes of home automation for people with disability

Purpose: People with disability often require long-term care. Long-term care is changing with the availability and advances in cost and function of technologies, such as home automation. Home automation has the potential to reduce paid carer hours and can potentially offer many benefits to people with a disability. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the health, social and economic outcomes experienced by people living with a disability who use home automation. 

Materials and methods: Two electronic databases were searched by title and abstract to identify international literature that describes home automation experiences from the perspectives of people with disability. A thematic approach was taken to synthesise the data to identify the key outcomes from home automation. 

Results: The review identified 11 studies reporting home automation outcomes for people living with a disability. Seven outcomes were associated with home automation: independence, autonomy, participation in daily activities, social and community connectedness, safety, mental health, and paid care and informal care. 

Conclusion: Advances in technology and changes in funding to support people living with a disability have made access to home automation more readily available. Overall, the study findings showed that there is a range of potential benefits of home automation experienced by individuals living with a disability.

Implications for Rehabilitation
A wide range of outcomes have been evaluated following the installation of home automation systems for people with disability. Key outcomes evaluated to date include independence, autonomy, participation, safety, mental health, and reduced need for paid carers.
Outcomes of home automation appear to be connected; for example, improved participation may lead to improved mental health.