Authors: (including presenting author): :
Cheung CL
Affiliation: :
The Occupational Therapy Department of Kowloon Hospital
Keyword 1: :
OT Safe Home
Keyword 2: :
Augmented Reality Application
Keyword 3: :
Home Assessment
Introduction: :
Conventionally, occupational therapists (OTs) conduct home assessment by manual measurement and on-site trial of assistive devices during home visit. Patients or caregivers need to imagine how the devices can be applied to their home environment if the devices are not available during the visit. “OT Safe Home” is a locally designed Augmented Reality Application (AR App), which allows occupational therapists to enhance the efficiency of home assessment with technology by providing real-time virtual measurement of home environment and evaluating accessibility of an assistive device.
Objectives: :
To evaluate the application process of “OT Safe Home” for home assessment, identify the cost-effectiveness, and explore the directions for enhancement of the AR App.
Methodology: :
“OT Safe Home” was applied to home visits for 13 cases requiring on-site home assessment during the period from February to December in 2025. The process of using the app was recorded by screen capture and videos for evaluation. It included real-time measurement, fitting of virtual assistive devices, and annotation on captured diagrams. Comments and feedback on ease of use, accuracy of measurement, variety of virtual assistive aids, and overall satisfaction were collected from OTs, patients, and caregivers. The percentage of time saved for measurement, explanation to patients or caregivers, and documentation were reported. Suggestions for enhancement of the AR app were gathered from OTs.
Result & Outcome: :
“OT Safe Home” was used by 5 OTs during home visits. Different aspects from OTs’ comments and feedback in using the AR app were rated by scaling questions from 0 (strongly disagree) to 10 (strongly agree). The average scores were shown as the following: 8 for “ease of use”, 7 for “accuracy of measurement”, 5 for “variety of virtual assistive aids”, and 6 for “overall satisfaction”. The average percentage of time saved for measurement, explanation to patients or caregivers, and documentation were 25%, 40%, and 10%. From patients’ and caregivers’ points of view, the captured diagrams illustrated with virtual assistive devices and annotations of measurement were easy to understand. For future enhancement, OTs suggested to upgrade the software by enriching the variety of assistive devices, improving the scanning sensitivity to the environment, increasing the accuracy of measurement, and refining the template for generating a home modification letter. In conclusion, the study highlighted the applicability and efficiency of incorporating augmented reality in home assessment with “OT Safe Home”.
