The primary objective of this study was to collect descriptive data on the mobility characteristics and activity levels of manual wheelchair users in two different environments: at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG) and in the subjects residential setting. This was accomplished using a custom data logging device. A secondary objective was to identify demographic factors that might influence the mobility characteristics and activity levels of the wheelchair users in their home environment. Thirty nine subjects were recruited to participate in this study over a two year period. A data logging device was instrumented on each subjects wheelchair for a total of six days at the NVWG and an additional one or two weeks in the home environment, depending on year of enrollment. The participants were also asked to complete a brief demographic survey. It was found that subjects traveled significantly (P=0.000) further and were active for significantly (P=0.000) more hours during an average day at the NVWG compared to their residential setting. The subjects traveled on average 6566.84 ± 3203.90 meters and were active for an average 12.00 ± 3.56 hours per day at the NVWG. In their home environment, subjects traveled an average distance of 1994.09 ± 1851.20 meters and were active for 7.13 ± 4.85 hours per day. When comparing the speed traveled in the two environments, no significant differences were found. It was found that the activity levels of the subjects at the NVWG were significantly greater when compared to their home environment. Analysis of demographic factors revealed that subjects who used a wheelchair for more years were found to travel significantly further and accumulate more minutes of movement per day. Also, employment was found to be a demographic factor that influenced wheelchair usage in the home environment. The findings of this study provide a more objective measure of wheelchair usage patterns in two real world environments: one that facilitates participation in activities and one that contains barriers that the subjects need to overcome. The results also indicate that there are demographic factors that influence wheelchair usage patterns in the residential setting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12092005-104605 |
| Date | 12 December 2005 |
| Creators | Tolerico, Michelle Lynn |
| Contributors | Shirley G. Fitzgerald, PhD, Rosemarie Cooper, MPT, ATP, Rory A. Cooper, PhD, Dan Ding, PhD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12092005-104605/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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