Kaleidoscopic associations between life outside home and the technological environment that shape occupational injustice as revealed through cross-sectional statistical modelling

• Background: Everyday life outside home and accessing a variety of places are central to occupation. Technology is ever more taken for granted, even outside home, and for some may culminate in occupational injustice. This study aims to explore the association between everyday technologies (ET), particularly out of home, and the number of places older adults with and without dementia go to, in rural and urban environments. Method: The Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire, and Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home Questionnaire, were administered with 128 people in England. Six logistic regression models explored the association between ET and the number of places people went to, with other demographic factors (i.e., rurality, diagnosis, deprivation). Results: The amount of out of home technologies a person perceived relevant and relative levels of neighbourhood deprivation were most persistently associated with the number of places people went to. Associations with ability to use technology, diagnosis, and education were more tentative. In no model was rurality significant. All models explained a low proportion of variance and lacked sensitivity to predict the outcome. Conclusion: For a minority of people, perceptions of the technological environment are associated with other personal and environmental dimensions. Viewed kaleidoscopically, these associations assemble to generate an impermanent, fragmented view of occupational injustice that may jeopardise opportunities outside home. However, there will be other influential factors not identified in this study. Greater attention to the intersections between specific environmental dimensions may deepen understanding of how modifications can be made to deliver occupational justice.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsterapi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Therapy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Occupational science

Dementia

Everyday technologies

Occupational deprivation

Occupational marginalisation

Rural-urban divide

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)