| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 職能治療研究所 === 97 === Although people with physical disability will get positive help with mobility devices, like wheelchair, they may suffer some adverse effects, such as accidents. Currently, to realize the situation of the accidents in outcome measurements of wheelchair usage is very important with emphasis on evidence-based practice. The purpose of this study is to comprehend the types and consequences of wheelchair-related accidents. Based on the “Human-Activity-Assistive Technology model,” we may categorize the related factors into four parts: users’ characteristics, wheelchair activities, type and features of wheelchair, and context of wheelchair using. The results of this study may contribute to the preliminary understanding of wheelchair-related accidents in Taiwan.
This cross-sectional study recruited 91 clients of the center of assistive technology in National Taiwan University Hospital within 2006 and 2007. The main inclusion criteria are as follow: self-propelling manual or powered wheelchairs for mobility. One occupational therapist conducted 15-minute telephone interviews based on the self-designed questionnaire, and 73 participants (respond rate: 80.2%) were involved in the study. Statistical analyses showed the descriptive statistics, including: demographic and clinical information, the behavior of wheelchair using, and the types, consequences and related factors of the accidents. In addition, Chi-square test and Student’s t–test were used to test the differences on related variables between people with and without accidents.
Out of the 73 participants in this study, 48 (65.8%) occurred wheelchair-related accidents. They have reported 76 accidents, involving 46 manual and 30 powered wheelchairs. After the reclassification, the wheelchair accidents can be divided into 66 tips and falls, 10 dangerous operations to the user and no function of wheelchair, and injuries by contacting wheelchair itself. However, the last type was not reported by the current participants. During the accidents, 53.9% of the wheelchairs have turned over, most commonly forward or backward (account for 75.6%). 56.6 percept of the users were injured, which need hospitalization for 4.6%. The demographics between people with and without accidents were not significantly different. However, in the daily number of hours of usage, People with accidents on average are significantly higher than none for about 2.8 hours.
Focusing on the factors between people with accidents, we found that wheelchair users rarely used seat belts and anti-tippers at that time, of which the most obvious manual wheelchair users. 90 percept of the manual wheelchair user didn’t use seat belts and anti-tippers, but they didn’t report that those two behaviors were related to the accidents. While considering the wheelchair activities, type and features of wheelchair, and the context of wheelchair using, we found that the manual wheelchairs were more accident-prone than the powered wheelchairs when users transferred indoors and slopped up and down. In addition, the powered wheelchair accidents more happened outdoors (73.3%).
This study is the first one to explore the wheelchair-related accidents in Taiwan. Our findings could work for preventive health education program, and design guide of wheelchair manufacturers.
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