Article

Manual wheelchairs are commonly prescribed for older adults in nursing homes
(NH). The extent of their utilisation being unknown may result in the
prescription of standard wheelchairs. The purpose of this study was to quantify
manual wheelchair use by nursing home residents. METHODS: Seventy-two independent
wheelchair users were recruited from four NH (two VA-affiliated and two private).
A customised wheelchair data logger was attached to each participant's wheelchair
for 1 month. Data were reduced and compared separately for VA- affiliated and
private facilities by types of propulsion pattern (arms versus legs and the
combination of arms and legs) using MANOVA. RESULTS: Participants from the
VA-affiliated facilities who used their arms were covering more distance (1451 m
versus 806 m), with greater endurance (73 m versus 60 m) as compared to
participants who used combination of arms and legs. However, no difference was
observed between velocity of wheelchair propulsion between groups (0.48 m/s
versus 0.58 m/s). For private facilities no notable difference was observed
between the groups. CONCLUSION: Older adults who live in NH and use of
wheelchairs represent a diverse cohort. The efficacy of using an objective
assessment method to measure the extent of use of wheelchairs was demonstrated in this study.

Langue : ANGLAIS