Citation
Abbott, C. (2014), "Editorial", Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAT-12-2013-0041
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Assistive Technologies, Volume 8, Issue 1.
We begin Volume 8 of the Journal of Assistive Technologies with peer-reviewed articles relating to the use of tablets by people with visual impairment, and a systematic review of assistive technology for people with dementia, the latter paper serving as a useful precursor to our forthcoming special issue.
Rachel Hewett and Graeme Douglas from the Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research in the Department of Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs at the University of Birmingham, writing with Carole Torgerson from the School of Education at Durham University, consider accessibility issues and the use of the Apple iPad. The paper reports on a pilot involving users with visual impairment in which a randomised trial was used to set a laptop computer as control alongside a tablet as an intervention. The authors found significant benefits associated with the iPad for this user group, but also identified some functions causing difficulty, such as the zoom function.
Our second peer-reviewed paper is a lengthy one, in that it consists of a systematic review of the effectiveness of assistive technology for people with dementia. Authors Richard Fleming from the Dementia Training Study Centre in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and Shima Sum from the Faculty of Medicine at Babol University of Medical Sciences, Iran, reviewed more than 200 papers and found that 41 met their criteria for involvement in the systematic review. They then report on their review of these papers under the topics independence prompts and reminders, safety and security, leisure and lifestyle, communication and telehealth, and therapeutic interventions. Problems identified by the authors in this systematic review include small samples, high drop-out rates, basic statistical analysis and defects in the technology itself, leading them to suggest they have been unable to identify research showing the use of assistive technology leading to a positive difference in the lives of people with dementia. It will be interesting to see this debate continued, as I am sure it will be, in our next issue.
Our two shorter articles this month are both concerned with different aspects of safety and technology. JAT Associate Editor Kevin Doughty from the Centre for Usable Home Technology at the University of York, writing with Mike Orton from Telecare Consulting, considers the use of assistive technology and telecare to manage the risk of fire in the homes of older and vulnerable people. After reviewing the statistical data, the authors found some evidence of a decrease in accidents, but identified continuing concern around cooking safety, an area where assistive technology could be used more widely.
Mubina Asaria, Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Coordinator at Greenford High School in London considers the important issue of e-safety, for which she is also coordinator at the school. Trained by CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) and the author of a master's dissertation on e-safety, Mubina Asaria recently spoke about her work on cyber-mentoring on BBC Panorama and has been working with Google and the Times Educational Supplement. We would welcome similar position papers from those working on e-safety for older and vulnerable people, and we also expect to be publishing a special issue of JAT on e-safety in the future, for which peer review papers are invited.
We continue Volume 8 with our next issue which will focus on dementia and is guest edited by Peter Cudd and Gail Mountain. I am grateful to them for taking on this task, and would be pleased to hear from other potential guest editors for special issues in 2015 and beyond. Later in 2014, Volume 8 Issue 3 will include a selection of papers from ITAG, the conference on technology and gaming held in Nottingham each year, and we will round the year off with a general issue.
Chris Abbott