The impact of assistive devices on community-dwelling older adults and their informal caregivers

Assistive devices have been found to provide many benefits to older adults such as independence, ease of living, safety and prevention, a decline in functional loss, and improved well-being and quality of life. Not only assistive devices can directly benefit their users, but also their informal caregivers. Despite the benefits of assistive devices to its users and their informal caregivers, there is limited research in the Canadian context that explores the direct benefits of assistive devices among community-dwelling older adults and their informal caregivers. This study aims to investigate the impact of assistive devices on community-dwelling older adults and their informal caregivers by analyzing data from over 50,000 Canadians (45 – 85) from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). We will investigate: 1) whether assistive devices help reduce informal caregiving hours; and 2) whether assistive devices help improve satisfaction of life of community-dwelling older adults.