The Impact of Environmental Controls on Mental Health

Within the UK there are over 15 million people who live with at least one long term condition. Of these people, over 4 million suffer from mental health problems.

Environmental control systems are a type of assistive technology that can be controlled by a wide variety of different access methods (e.g. switches) and can assist people with physical disabilities usually with a neurological condition to control various electronic devices in the home environment. The systems are designed to provide independence, removing the requirement to be reliant on other people (for the operation of the controlled devices) and potentially could have a positive effect on mental health and quality of life.

The research question for this study is to determine impact of environmental controls on mental health. It is hypothesised that there will be a positive impact on mental health of the participants. The question above will be answered by collecting questionnaire data pre and post intervention. Participants will be identified by Clinical Scientists working in NHS Lothian's Environmental Control Service (ECS). Participants will be recruited from NHS Lothian and so will be living in the Lothian area. The patient will be contacted following the normal protocol for arranging an environmental control assessment, at which point they will be approached to join the study. Participants will answer questions in their home environment both in person and over the phone.

The end point of the study will be 14 months from the start date (allowing for follow up data to be collected for anyone recruited towards the end of the 12-month recruitment period.