Information and communication technology used by people with lower limb loss in Slovenia.

ABSTRACT

World demography is changing as the population ages and there are more people with disabilities having problems to stay independently at home. Innovative technologies could help extend the independence of older people living at home. As part of a collaborative project, we investigated ownership and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) among older people with lower limb loss (LLL) using questionnaires and retrospective analysis. Our aim was to analyse factors associated with ICT use among people with LLL. We identified age as the main factor that limits ownership and use of ICT among older people with LLL in Slovenia. Cause of amputation also appears to be relevant, whereby those who had amputation because of peripheral vascular disease are more likely to use a personal or tablet computer, social networks, messaging apps, email and internet than those who had amputation because of diabetes. In addition, those living in the suburbs are more likely to use a health monitoring device than those living in the countryside.