ABSTRACT

Objective : The purpose of this study was to analyze the usage problems of a standard manual wheelchair for hemiplegic clients and to develop a ‘one-handed propellable manual wheelchair’ and identifying its effectiveness. Methods : Thirty hemiplegic clients who were admitted into a rehabilitation and convalescent hospital in a metropolitan city participated as subjects. The research tools were standard manual wheelchairs commonly used by people with an impaired gait and a one-handed propellable device equipped on a manual wheelchair developed for this study to evaluate its effectiveness. Wheelchair Skill Tests (WST), drivability, convenience, difference, and acceptability were adopted as the evaluation tools. Results : The failure rate of all WST items was recorded for more than 96.7% of the participants who drove a standard manual wheelchair without using their feet. As compared to an existing wheelchair, the statistical results showed a significant effect on the WST, drivability, convenience, difference, and acceptability for the participants when driving a manual wheelchair equipped with the developed device. Conclusion : These findings imply that the use of a one-handed propellable wheelchair can be an active and effective solution to solve the problems for hemiplegic clients who are using existing manual wheelchairs. Therefore, the government should provide institutional support to develop and distribute this technology and promote relative research, allowing the mobility and occupational performance of hemiplegic clients to increase.