The Human Activity Assistive Technology Model

The Human Activity Assistive Technology (HAAT) model was first developed by Cook and Hussey to guide the selection of the most appropriate assistive technology (AT) to assist an individual with activity completion. The model developers have continued its evolution with updates made in 2002 and 2008. Each version of the model includes the same four components: the human, activity, and AT interacting within a context. The most recent iteration of the model portrays the visual as a three-dimensional sphere with equal portions designated for the human, activity, and AT embedded within a cube to represent the context. In 2008, Cook and Polgar described the relationship between the HAAT model and other frameworks/models familiar to occupational therapists (OTs) including the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), the Person-Environment-Occupational Performance (PEOP) Model, and the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and Enablement (CMOP-E). These frameworks and models can be used to define the components of the HAAT model further and are similar in terms of their interactive nature and holistic views of people, their environments, and the factors that help them participate in activities.