The Effect of a Transfer Device in the Homes of Elderly Women

A novel transfer pole was installed in the homes of 30 community dwelling elderly women (mean age 76.8 years) and intermittently color-cued for 20/30 participants. Subjects' views of the device and their ability to transfer were monitored over a three-month period using survey, performance and self-report measures. Qualitative results indicated that seniors fully recognized and endorsed the functional utility and safety benefits of the pole. A repeated measures one-way ANOVA showed statistically significant changes across time for all groups on self-report measures as a consequence of the pole but none related to the cue, although positive trends were observed. The results corroborate basic assumptions of the Person-Environment-Occupation Model used to frame the study.