Improving research and development of wearable assistive and rehabilitation technologies: a systematic review on diversity factors.

The review searched only English publications, so relevant work published in other languages may be missing. The search terms were influenced by the authors' engineering-centred background and may have excluded terms such as self-help devices. Only 11 articles met the final eligibility criteria, which is too few to draw firm conclusions about performance across diverse users. None of the included articles explicitly examined or measured diversity factors, so the review could not appraise study quality in the usual way. The supplementary wearable technology search used only the top 100 results from each database and left 57 papers after screening, so it is a small sample. The recommendations focus on participant studies and do not adequately address simulation-based research, accessibility, affordability, maintenance, or repair. Because the review broadened the search to assistive technologies generally, the findings may not apply to every wearable device.

The supplied publication types list research support from a non-U.S. government source. The article does not report a conflicts of interest statement.

Do not read the paper's recommendations as evidence that wearable assistive technologies have been tested or shown to work for women, older adults, or disabled users. The review found only 11 eligible articles, and none of the included studies explicitly measured diversity factors, so the paper identifies gaps and proposes next steps rather than proving device performance.