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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Strengthening Rehabilitation in Health Systems
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2025.1581104
This article is part of the Research Topic Assistive Technology and Universal Health Coverage: Clinical and Educational Challenges View all articles
Global availability of guidelines related to assistive technology: a scoping review
Provisionally accepted- 1 Master Program of Global Health Leadership, Nuffield Department of Primary Care, Health Sciences, and Said Business School, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
- 2 School of Health and Welfare, Dalarna University, Falun, Dalarna, Sweden
Background: Given the rising global demand for assistive technology, predicted to encompass 3.5 billion people by 2050, understanding the availability of guidelines governing its use and identifying potential gaps is paramount. Objective: This scoping review mapped existing guidelines related to assistive technology. The review aimed to inform future research and guideline development to accelerate access to assistive technology within universal health coverage. Methods: Following the JBI methodology, a systematic search of guidelines published between January 2008 and March 2024 was conducted across CINAHL, Google Scholar, PubMed, TRIP and WHO IRIS. Included guidelines related to specific assistive technology, including product types and services for users and their caregivers. Guidelines targeting system-level interventions were excluded. Results: The search identified 291 records, of which 24 guidelines were included. They focus on improving health outcomes for diverse populations across different healthcare settings. Most guidelines originated from high-income countries and predominantly addressed commonly known assistive products for mobility, hearing, vision, and self-care. There is a gap in guidelines for assistive products for cognition and communication. The identified guidelines primarily followed evidence-based methodologies and involved assistive technology users in their development. Conclusions: This review provides a crucial overview of the existing landscape of assistive technology guidelines. It calls for further action to harmonize standards, leverage innovation in evidence generation, and enhance guideline development to better serve the global population in need of assistive technology.
Keywords: Assistive Technology, guidelines, Health products, health system, Health Workforce, Universal Health Coverage
Received: 21 Feb 2025; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang and Borg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wei Zhang, Master Program of Global Health Leadership, Nuffield Department of Primary Care, Health Sciences, and Said Business School, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Johan Borg, School of Health and Welfare, Dalarna University, Falun, Dalarna, Sweden
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