The comparable module in the 2006 survey only asked about “aids”. The 2026 pilot survey will greatly increase the scope by asking about products or technology. This is not just a change in terminology, it is also indicative of the progress in technology, and how widespread assistive technologies have become in the past decade.
Use of health services, such as physiotherapist or occupational therapist, was included in the comparative module in 2006. This information will be collected within its own health services module for the 2026 pilot. This module may collect information across grouped functional difficulties. For example, the category lists may be grouped in line with the WHO rATA groupings, vision, hearing, mobility, communication, learning, remembering, personal-care, and other difficulties, to minimise overlap in products and technology.
The assistive technology module will capture information on:
Where multiple products or technology are used, the survey will ask respondents to identify their three most important products. Respondents will then be asked for further information on this shorter list, to better understand service provision needs.
For people who use assistive products or technology, it was suggested the survey collect information on access to, rather than use of, assistive products, barriers of use (rather than barriers to access), the benefits of use, and facilitators of both access to and use of assistive products. It was agreed there was considerable overlap between these topics and while nuanced, the survey would be better serviced by including other topics.
Due to the length of the survey, other topics that were deprioritised due to lower support from stakeholders included duration of use of the product, capturing the specific product names under the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) classifications, whether the products were customised or off the shelf, the sources used to gather information on the products, and who owned the product (for example the HSE or the respondent).
While some procedural information will be collected in the survey, other topics have been excluded to ensure the module is not overly burdensome. This included information on who helped the respondent select their assistive product, the level of satisfaction with the selection process, and who provided the service to set up the product. Information on the length of time taken to receive the product after selection, time taken for follow-up care, and time taken for any repairs will also not be asked.
Within the procedural topics, there was interest to collect information on the pay source for training and follow-up care. These topics were deprioritised to make space for collecting information on the pay source of the product itself. Specific information on cost, including cost of training, cost of repairs and cost of purchase will not be included in the 2026 pilot. There was lower support for cost related information, and we believe this information would be better captured elsewhere. There was some interest in gathering information on co-funding schemes. However, as this is not a common method of funding within the Irish context it was deprioritised to make space for other topics.
During the consultation phase, there was interest to capture the use of assistive products across a range of activities, including education, employment, in social settings, in transport, in care settings, to support independent living, or more generally in daily life. Rather than asking specific questions on these topics, analysis of this assistive technology module and the other survey modules should provide insights. For example, correlations between the use of, or barriers to access of, assistive products and participation in employment.