Description
For all current and institutionalized persons, USEAID indicates if the person uses any assistive technology for personal care or everyday activities due to an impairment or physical or mental health problem. Respondents were asked "Does anyone in this household use any aids such as a walker, grab bars in the bathtub or any other special equipment for personal care of everyday activities (because of an impairment or a physical or mental health problem)?" If the answer was yes, the respondent was asked to identify which members of the household used aids.
If no one in the family uses assistive technologies, all members of the family are coded as 'No' (1). For families that responded with 'Refused' (7), 'Not Ascertained' (8), or 'Don't Know' (9), all members of the family were assigned the family-level response. If the response to the family screener question was 'Yes' (2) but no family members were identified as using aids, everyone in the family was coded as 'Don't Know.'
Definitions
A more extensive description of help aids is given in the Field Interviewer's help text:
"In the phrase 'aids or any other special equipment', the key word is 'special'. Special equipment includes any device that is not used by the general population to perform a specific activity. There are many kinds of special equipment:
- mobile devices, such as motorized wheelchairs, canes and walkers;
- special spoons, plate guards, or hand splints used to aid in feeding;
- orthopedic shoes or braces;
- stationary devices, such as railings and ramps;
- computers or communication boards to assist speech;
- TTY - telephones or telephone amplifiers for hearing impaired;
- bathroom rails or bars, bathing benches or chairs."
This information was not shared with respondents.
Examples of impairment given in the Field Interviewer's instructions include missing limbs, fingers, or other body parts; partial paralysis from an early case of polio, accident, or war wound; stiff joints, deformed fingers or other physical evidence of arthritis; and vision or hearing loss.
Collection frequency and timing for USEAID change over time. This question was fielded annually from 2017-2019 and 2022 forward. In other years, it was fielded more than once per year and those responses are recorded in the round-level variable USEAIDRD.
USEAID is one of a series of variables about limitations and disability available in IPUMS MEPS. A complete list of these variables can be found in the description for ANYLMT.
Codes and Frequencies
Universe
- 2017-2019; 2022 2023: All current or institutionalized persons in Round 1 or 3.
Availability
- 2017-2019, 2022-2023
Weights
- 2017-2019, 2022-2023 : PERWEIGHT
