Introduction: The aging process of the population represents a great challenge for modern society and the individual himself. Every human being has to face changes throughout different stages of their life, to which they have to adapt. These changes are most pronounced in old age. The elderly want to spend their remaining years in a home environment for as long as possible. Due to the age decline of various functions of the individual, we can enable longer independence in the home environment by using assistive technology. Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation is to determine the extent to which elderly people who are aging in the home environment and use the home care services or home help in the municipality of Zagorje ob Savi are familiar with low- technology assistive devices for performing daily activities. Methods of work: We designed a questionnaire consisting of two sets. The first set was intended for obtaining demographic data, and the second set consisted of seventeen questions based on the knowledge of tools for basic activities of daily living, completed with photos. We were also interested in respondents’ source of infrormation about gadgets. We tested the participants’ knowledge of the gadgets by asking them what the gadget is used for. The sampling was purposeful, and people aged 65 or over who were included in the home care service of the Zagorje ob Savi Health Center or the home help service of the Elderly home Polde Eberl Jamski Izlake were interviewed. We collected 42 valid questionnaires. Results: Respondents identified a total of 36.6% of all devices in the questionnaire. Their knowledge varied from device to device. Most information on devices was received from staff at the health center or hospital (31.5%). Individuals in the age group of 75 to 84 years were most familiar with assistive devices (29.4%). Discussion and conclusion: Knowledge of low technology assistive devices for performing basic daily activities among respondents is low, as expected. Most often, the identified devices do not relate exclusively to old age, and the correlated functional decline was identified, but to various types of decline in functional abilities in previous periods of life. As expected, the respondents received most of the information in the health center or hospital from the staff, but we do not know whether the devices were presented to them by occupational therapists and whether anyone taught them about their direct use. The gadgets were largely recognized by middle-aged individuals. At the level of prevention, it would make sense to focus on knowledge of the devices in early and late middle-aged individuals. The inclusion of an occupational therapist, as a member of a multidisciplinary team in the home environment of the elderly in the municipality of Zagorje ob Savi would be beneficial, as this would encourage the independence and safe aging of individuals in their environment through activity, adaptations and the introduction of assistive technology, thus significantly influencing their satisfaction and quality of life
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