Over $1.6 Million Invested in Development and Testing
Our multi-site app research and development was funded the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). NIDILRR is part of the Administration for Community Living (ACL). Grant funds were dedicated to building a trusted, gold-standard app suite to improve community living in people with disabilities. We integrated Participatory Action Research (PAR) for all decisions throughout the projects, rigorous qualitative development acceptability testing, in-depth UX testing, digital accessibility testing, and a multi-site feasibility trial.
Initial Research and Development Grant Awarded
Qualitative research guided the initial development of HESTIA
(Now AccessibleHome)
Grant Awarded to Further Develop, Test, and Disseminate App Suite
Apps found to be usable, accessible, acceptable and feasible
Company Founded
Founded
Incubator Program Completion
Supported strategic development for launch
Planned App Launch
Our apps are on target to launch in early 2026
Collaborating Institutions
Selected Publications
- Burns, S. P., Mendonca, R., Pickens, N. D., O’Donnell Knudson, L., & Smith, R. O. (2025). A brief report on the iterative development and content validation of the myAccessibleHome app for home safety screening and interventions. Assistive Technology, 1-6.
- Burns, S. P., Mendonca, R., Pickens, N. D. (2023). Home modifications. In B. B. Schell & J. Schell (Eds.), Clinical and Professional Reasoning in Occupational Therapy (3e).
- Mendonca, R. J., Burns, S. P., Schwartz, J. K., & Smith, R. O. on behalf of AOTA. (2022). AOTA Official Document. “Inclusive and accessible environments: Home, work, public spaces, technology, and specialty living environments within occupational therapy practice.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(3), 7613410200.
- Burns, S. P., Mendonca, R. J., Pickens, N. D., Smith, R. O. (2021). America’s housing crisis: Perpetuating disparities among people with disability. Disability & Society, 36(10), 1719-1724.
- Burns, S. P., Pickens, N. D., & Smith, R. O. (2017). Interprofessional client-centered reasoning processes in home modification practice. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 31(3), 213-228.
- Burns, S.P., & Pickens, N.D. (2016). Embedding technology into inter-professional best practices in home safety evaluation. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 12(6), 585-591.
- Pickens, N. D. & Burns, S. P. (2017). Home modifications. In B. B. Schell & J. Schell (Eds.), Clinical and Professional Reasoning in Occupational Therapy (2 ed., pp. 303-318). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
- O’Donnell, L., Primrose, K., MacKinen, A., Mendonca, R., Burns, S.P., Pickens, D., Smith, R. O., Annual Conference, “Field scan of home evaluation apps to inform next generation app design,” Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (RESNA), Virtual. (July 2022).
- Mendonca, R., Burns, S. P., Pickens, N. D., & Smith, R. O. (2019). Mobile health for complex decision making. Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) Annual Conference.
- Mendonca, R. J., Burns, S. P., Pickens, N. D., & Smith, R. O. (2018). HESTIA – a home evaluation app: Usability analysis. Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) Annual Conference.
- Burns, S. P., Smith, R. O., Mendonca, R., & Pickens, N. D. (2017). Integrating a participatory design approach: Developing HESTIA with multidisciplinary perspectives. Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) Annual Conference.
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