Psychosocial Impact of Powered Wheelchair, Users’ Satisfaction and Their Relation to Social Participation

Domingues Domingues,Silveira Silveira,Pinheiro Pinheiro,Martins Martins,Francisco Francisco,Jutai Jutai

doi:10.3390/technologies7040073

Abstract

Several studies showed positive effects of assistive technologies on psychosocial impact and participation of adults with mobility impairments. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychosocial and participation impact of powered wheelchairs. Participants were thirty persons with disabilities who use powered wheelchairs with diverse medical conditions. The Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology, the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale and the Activities and Participation Profile Related to Mobility were used, in addition to demographic, clinical and wheelchair related questions. The participants were satisfied with both the assistive technology and related services, with the lowest satisfaction scores belonging to those who had been using their wheelchairs for a longer period of time. We noticed significant restrictions in participation mostly among persons with longer wheelchair utilization. The most satisfied were the ones with better performance in terms of social participation. Psychosocial scores showed a positive impact with higher adaptability among persons who transitioned from a manual compared to those who already had a powered wheelchair. There was a positive psychosocial impact and therefore an increase in quality of life of its users.

Highlights

More than one billion people in the world live with some form of disability and its prevalence is steadily growing [1]
Measures adopted to evaluate the impact of assistive devices, namely the Powered wheelchairs (PW), regarding the psychosocial factors, satisfaction and social participation profile of a person with disabilities must be suitable for use in a particular cultural and specific language context [19]
Participants responded to the Portuguese version of Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology, version 2.0 (QUEST) [20,21]; the Portuguese version of Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (P-PIADS) [22] and the Activities and Participation Profile Related to Mobility (PAPM) [23], in addition to demographic, clinical and PW related questions

Summary

Introduction

More than one billion people in the world live with some form of disability and its prevalence is steadily growing [1]. It is well recognized, especially after the implementation of the International. Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), that the end goal of rehabilitation is to preserve or improve participation [2]. The 2006 “United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities” and the “2008 Word Health Organization guidelines on the provision of wheelchairs in less resourced settings” respectively express the responsibility of governments to ensure access to personal mobility options as well as the need for mobility device training [3]. Prescribing and using a wheelchair in less resourceful settings is a clinical and civilizational challenge [5,6]

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