The Assistive Technology Device Predisposition Assessment (ATD-PA) is designed to assess a person’s match with the technology or assistive device that they use. Individuals are asked to characterize aspects of functioning, lifestyle, and subjective views of a particular assistive device.

Clinical Considerations

  • The ATD-PA encourages user participation in the process of developing and setting goals and helps the user to better understand her or his own needs and interests. The ATD-PA is useful when a person has a complicated case and is a good tool for assessing a client’s ‘story’ with assistive technology.
  • Together with functional data, the ATD-PA has the potential to contribute to the formulation of consumer-directed needs and goals for rehabilitation. For persons with new spinal cord injury who indicate a poor history with assistive technology use, the ATD-PA can be a measure to identify obstacles to AT use early on in the course of rehabilitation.
  • The ATD-PA has been shown to be a reliable measure and to have adequate content and criterion-related validity in the SCI population.

ICF Domain

Environmental Factors

Administration

  • The person can complete the forms on their own or with their clinician through interview techniques.
  • Domain one is Person containing 53 items. It is designed to be administered per individual across several time points. It is divided into four sections. Section A (items 1-9) asks respondents to rate their current capabilities in nine functional areas according to a five-point scale (1 = poor to 5 = excellent). All items in Sections B and C comprise the QOL subset. Each item is rated on a five-point scale (Section B: 1 = not satisfied; 5 = very satisfied; Section C: 1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). Section D contains 33 statements about temperament and psychosocial support. Patients check those which apply to them.
  • Domain two is Device containing 10 items related to the expected benefit from a device. It can be repeated if the person uses multiple devices. Participants rate each item on a five-point scale based on how much the statement applies to them (1 = does not apply to me; 5 = definitely applies to me).
  • In some spinal cord injury research publications, only domain two is used.

Number of Items

63 (divided into 2 domains):

  • Domain one: 53 items
  • Domain two: 10 items

Equipment

The person’s assistive device(s).

Scoring

No additional information is provided on scoring.

Languages

Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Hungarian, Korean and Spanish (Spain).

Training Required

Training manual available.

Availability

The Assistive Technology Device Predisposition Assessment can be accessed here.

# of studies reporting psychometric properties: 4

Interpretability

  • Scores from the quality of life section provide information regarding the user’s subjective quality of life.
  • Higher scores are indicative of better quality of life.
  • No meaningful cut-points or normative data have been established for the SCI population.

MCID: not established for SCI
SEM: not established for SCI
MDC: not established for SCI

Typical Values

Mean Scores (Person Domain Sections B & C only): 1.75-4.10

(Scherer & Cushman 2001; n=20; 10 males, 10 females; 13 paraplegia, 7 tetraplegia; complete and incomplete; acute SCI)

Reliability – High

Internal consistency of the ATD-PA was reported to be High (Cronbach’s α = 0.80).

(Scherer & Cushman 2001; n=20; 10 males, 10 females; 13 paraplegia, 7 tetraplegia; complete and incomplete; acute SCI)

Validity – High

Correlation of the ATD-PA Quality of Life subscale was High with:

  • The Brief Symptom Inventory (Spearman’s ρ = -0.71)
  • The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Spearman’s ρ = 0.89)

(Scherer & Cushman 2001; n=20; 10 males, 10 females; 13 paraplegia, 7 tetraplegia; complete and incomplete; acute SCI)

Responsiveness

No values were reported for responsiveness of the ATD-PA for the SCI population.

Floor/Ceiling Effect

No values were reported for the presence of floor/ceiling effects in the ATD-PA for the SCI population.

Reviewers

Dr. Carlos L. Cano-Herrera, Tyra Chu

Date Last Updated

31 December 2024

Graves DE, Jutai JW, Demers L, Fuhrer MJ, DeRuyter F, Scherer MJ. Psychometric Properties of a Measure to Determine Predisposition to and Use of Mobility-Related Assistive Technology among Adults with New Disability
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372680406_Assessing_Predisposition_to_and_Use_of_Mobility-Related_AT_1_Psychometric_Properties_of_a_Measure_to_Determine_Predisposition_to_and_Use_of_Mobility-Related_Assistive_Technology_among_Adults_with_New_ [accessed Mar 24 2025].

Koumpouros Y, Papageorgiou E, Karavasili A, AlexopoulouD. Translation and validation of the assistive technology device predisposition assessment in Greek in order to assess satisfaction with use of the selected assistive device. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol 2017;12:535-542.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27049479

Scherer MJ and Cushman LA. Measuring subjective quality of life for spinal cord injury: a validation study of the assistive technology device predisposition assessment. Disability and Rehabilitation, 2001; 23(9): 387-393.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11394589

Scherer MJ and Cushman LA. Determining the content for an interactive training programme and interpretive guidelines for the Assistive Technology Device Predisposition Assessment. Disability and Rehabilitation 2002; 24: 126-130.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11827146

Related Downloads