Satisfaction with participation using a manual wheelchair among individuals with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study design: Cross-sectional.

Objectives: To describe self-identified indoor and outdoor wheelchair-oriented participation outcomes and to report satisfaction with the identified outcomes by people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: Vancouver, British Columbia.

Methods: Participation outcomes were identified using the Wheelchair Outcome Measure and classified using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF).

Results: The average age of the 51 community-dwelling subjects with SCI was 43.7(+/-10.7) years. Of them, 84% were men, 64% had tetraplegia and 66% used a manual wheelchair. There were 258 indoor and 257 outdoor participation outcomes identified by this sample with most outcomes falling into the 'community, social, and civil life' (36.5%), 'domestic life' (23.7%) and 'mobility' (18%) domains of the ICF. All domains had a mean satisfaction score of 7.1/10 or greater except for the indoor 'mobility' domain that had a mean satisfaction score of 6.1/10. Satisfaction scores with performance of the specific participation outcomes ranged from high (10/10) to low (2/10) with most scores falling above 7/10.

Conclusion: Community-dwelling people with SCI commonly engage in wheelchair-oriented participation outcomes related to 'community, social, and civil life', 'domestic life' and 'mobility' and tend to be satisfied with their performance of these participation outcomes. This information is useful for clinicians and may help to guide assessment and intervention.