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36 HANDBOOK OF ELECTRONIC ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

future intention at the correct moment, but attention and executive difficulties can also
lead to failures. For example, not storing an intention into long-term memory (e.g., when
told about an appointment but then being distracted by a friend) and apathy common to
people with dysexecutive syndrome can mean that people do not act upon an intention
even when it has not been forgotten.
PM is one type of memory that mobile technologies are particularly suited to support.
Calendar, alarm and reminder apps exist that can be used to set a prompt for a future
intention, usually based on a set time. There is good evidence that these types of devices
are useful for supporting PM in people with ABI (Jamieson et al., 2014) and multiple scle-
rosis (Goodwin et al., 2015). However, in the case of mobile reminding software, and other
devices that require input from the user, PM difficulties can impact their utility because
the user may forget to enter information into the device in the first place.
People with memory impairment use many different systems and methods to help
support their memory, as well as reminding technology. A study found that 81 people with
memory impairments after ABI surveyed, commonly used several strategies and memory
aids to support their memory. The most common were leaving things in noticeable places
(86%), mentally retracing of steps (77%), asking someone to remind them (78%) and using
paper diaries (77%), lists (78%) and calendars (79%). The most common technologies used
were mobile phone reminders (38%) and alarms or timers (38%) (Jamieson et al., 2015).
Jamieson et al. (2014) carried out a systematic review and showed that technology is more
effective than control conditions (non-technological aids and strategies or practice as
usual). While the control conditions in the studies included in the review may or may not
have included the non-technological methods just described, this finding does highlight
the potential advantage to be gained by encouraging people to use assistive technology to
help PM.
PM aids and strategies could be employed to support the use of any EAT that requires
input or the completion of a prior intention from the user. For example, if a communi-
cation aid or physical assistance technology needs to be learned over several sessions,
then memory strategies can help people to remember to attend a session. Technology
could also assist people to adhere to home-based rehabilitation. Lemoncello et al. (2011)
described a television-based prompt that reminded patients with dysphagia to adhere to
their home-based training programme. The technology led to an increase in adherence to
the programme compared to practice as usual.
Further strategies might be required to support people’s PM when they are intending
to use memory aids. For example, a phone alarm could easily be set to remind some-
body to use their calendar or look at their diary. The strategy of leaving things in a highly
visible or unusual place could be used when putting up a whiteboard with a weekly
plan. Technology can be used to remind about reminding as well; a study investigated
the use of ‘unsolicited prompts’ asking ‘Do you need to set a reminder?’, to bring the
attention of people with ABI to a mobile phone app that they could use to set reminders.
Three participants with severe ABI set more reminders with the prompts than without
(Jamieson et al., 2017).