Adult Scandinavians' use of powered scooters: user satisfaction, frequency of use, and prediction of daily use

Exploring the use of powered mobility devices and occupational participation for people with obesity

BACKGROUND

The increasing prevalence of obesity is a global issue with the World Health Organization estimating that more than 650 million adults are impacted by obesity. Those living with obesity are impacted by both physical and psychological issues. The physical consequences of living with obesity can lead to decreased mobility and reduced occupational participation. The aim of this research is to understand how the use of a powered mobility device influences occupational participation and quality of life from the perspective of people with obesity.

METHOD

Semi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 7) were undertaken with a phenomenological approach to gain an understanding of the lived experience of using a powered mobility device.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis occurred resulting in inter-connected themes that describe the positive experiences associated with using a powered mobility device: (1) autonomous mobility; (2) enhanced occupational participation; and (3) improved self-efficacy creates increased confidence in relation to participation. In addition, two themes emerged that were barriers to usage of powered mobility devices: (4) physical environmental barriers and (5) difficulty transporting the powered mobility device.

CONCLUSION

For those with obesity, a powered mobility device provided autonomous mobility allowing them to engage in an increased range of activities. This was hampered by physical environmental barriers and difficulties transporting the powered mobility device. Further research is required to verify the results of this study with a wider population and to explore the benefits and barriers to use of a powered mobility device in the home and community.

Differences in perception of safety in driving environment according to shared PMD user experience through multi-criteria analysis

A shared personal mobility device (PMD) is a transportation model that rents personal transportation devices, such as bicycles and kickboards, through a sharing platform. The use of shared PMD has increased, but related complaints and traffic accidents are doubling with it every year. This study applied an analytic network process (ANP) methodology for the multi-criteria analysis. A survey including normal citizens was conducted to evaluate the importance of safety regarding shared PMD experience. The evaluation factors differ according to the experience of using the shared PMD device, although 'driving continuity' and 'separation of sidewalks and roadways' were the most important. PMD users gave greater priority to 'removal of the road gap', 'traffic safety signs', 'dedicated parking area' and 'management of obstacles' compared to non-users. On the other hand, for non-PMD users, 'bicycle lane width', 'strengthening enforcement', and 'user safety education' were more important. The results showed that importance differed depending on the participant's experience of using a shared PMD or the lack of it. In the case of users, factors that have a direct effect on driving were prioritised, and in the case of non-users, auxiliary operations and management, such as crackdowns and education, were prioritised.

Qualitative experiences of new motorised mobility scooter users relevant to their scooter skills: a secondary analysis

OBJECTIVE

To explore the experiences of new motorised mobility scooter users from the perspectives of the assessment and training of scooter skills.

DESIGN

Descriptive secondary analysis of qualitative data.

SETTING

Community.

PARTICIPANTS

20 New users of motorised mobility scooters.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Directed qualitative analysis of up to four semi-structured interviews over the course of the first year of scooter use, to identify themes and sub-themes that could inform recommendations regarding assessment and training protocols.

RESULTS

We identified two themes. The first related to potential new content. As one example of the sub-themes, there were many excerpts that dealt with the use of skills in various combinations and permutations that were used to carry out activities during everyday life and participate in society. These excerpts suggested the importance of training skills in combination to facilitate skill transfer (or generalizability). The second theme is related to enhancements of existing content. As one example of the sub-themes, there were several excerpts that dealt with scooter security. These excerpts led to the recommendation that removing and inserting the scooter key should be added to the assessment criteria for the "turns power on and off" skill of the Wheelchair Skills Test (WST) and its questionnaire version (WST-Q).

CONCLUSIONS

The experiences of scooter users over the first year of receiving a scooter appear to be relevant to the assessment and training of scooter skills and suggest themes for further study. Clinical trial registration number: NCT02696213 IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONThe experiences of new scooter users are highly relevant to the assessment and training of scooter skills.These experiences suggest both potential new content and enhancements of existing content to the Wheelchair Skills Program Manual.

Estimation of Steering and Throttle Angles of a Motorized Mobility Scooter with Inertial Measurement Units for Continuous Quantification of Driving Operation

With the growing demand from elderly persons for alternative mobility solutions, motorized mobility scooters (MMSs) have been gaining importance as an essential assistive technology to aid independent living in local communities. The increased use of MMSs, however, has raised safety issues during driving and magnified the necessity to evaluate and improve user driving skills. This study is intended to develop a novel quantitative monitoring method for MMS driving operation using inertial measurement units (IMUs). The proposed method used coordinate transformations around the rotational axes of the steering wheel and the throttle lever to estimate the steering and throttle operating angles based on gravitational accelerations measured by IMUs. Consequently, these operating angles can be monitored simply using an IMU attached to the throttle lever. Validation experiments with a test MMS in the stationary state confirmed the consistency of the proposed coordinate transformation with the MMS's geometrical structure. The driving test also demonstrated that the operating angles were estimated correctly on various terrains and that the effects of terrain inclination were compensated using an additional IMU attached to the scooter body. This method will be applicable to the quantitative monitoring of driving behavior and act as a complementary tool for the existing skills' evaluation methods.

The impact of a power mobility device on occupational participation and quality of life for people with chronic diseases: A scoping review

Introduction

The aim was to explore occupational participation and quality of life (QoL) for power mobility device users with chronic disease.

Methods

Arksey and O’Malley’s framework for scoping reviews was used. Six data bases were searched using keywords: wheelchair, scooter, QoL and participation. Data were extracted with coding and thematic analysis performed.

Results

Forty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. An overarching theme of enhanced QoL was identified with subthemes of (i) independence, (ii) enabling participation in instrumental activities of daily living, (iii) enhanced social participation and leisure, (iv) environmental barriers to occupational participation, (vi) power mobility device (PMD) performance concerns impacting occupational participation and (vii) overcoming risk of harm through PMD training.

Conclusion

The scoping review identified a heterogeneity of study designs and outcome measures, which makes comparison between studies difficult. For people with chronic diseases, PMDs improve independence in occupational participation, particularly in IADL, social participation and leisure. Unfortunately, improved QoL was often inferred, without the use of an outcome measure. Areas which impacted occupational participation for PMD users were environmental barriers and a lack of PMD training. Further research is needed to understand the impact of a PMD on QoL and occupational participation for those with chronic disease.

Acute injuries resulting from accidents involving powered mobility devices (PMDs)-Development and outcomes of PMD-related accidents in Sweden

Objective: Powered mobility devices (PMDs) are commonly used as aids for older people and people with disabilities, subgroups of vulnarable road users (VRUs) who are rarely noted in traffic safety contexts. However, the problem of accidents involving PMD drivers has been reported in many countries where these vehicles have become increasingly popular. The aim of this study is to extract and analyze national PMD-related accident and injury data reported to the Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition (STRADA) database. The results will provide valuable insight into the risks and obstacles that PMD drivers are exposed to in the traffic environment and may contribute to improving the mobility of this group in the long term. Methods: The current study is based on data from 743 accidents and 998 persons. An analysis was performed on a subset of data (N = 301) in order to investigate the development of accidents over a period of 10 years. Thereafter, each accident in the whole data set was registered as either single (N = 427) or collision (N = 315). Results: The results show that there was a 3-fold increase in the number of PMD-related accidents reported to STRADA during the period 2007-2016. With regard to single accidents, collisions, as well as fatalities, the injury statistics were dominated by males. Single accidents were more common than collisions (N = 427 and N = 316, respectively) and the level of injury sustained in each type of accident is on par. The vast majority of single accidents resulted in the PMD driver impacting the ground (87%), due to either PMD turnover (71%) or the driver falling out of the PMD (16%). The reason for many of the single accidents was a difference in ground level (34%, typically a curb). Cars, trucks, or buses were involved in 67% of collision events; these occured predominantly at junctions or intersections (70%). Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ injuries were dominated by hip and head injuries in both single accidents and collision events. Conclusions: The present study shows that further research on PMD accidents is required, with regard to both single accidents and collision events. To ensure that appropriate decisions are made, future work should follow up on injury trends and further improve the quality of PDM-related accident data. Improved vehicle stability and design, increased usage of safety equipment, proper training programs, effective maintenance services, and development of a supporting infrastructure would contribute to increased safety for PMD drivers.