Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies
Date Submitted: Jan 30, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 4, 2019 - Apr 1, 2019
Date Accepted: Sep 2, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
A Web-based Monitoring System for Power Tilt-in-space Wheelchairs: Development and Formative Evaluation
ABSTRACT
Background:
A power tilt-in-space wheelchair meets many clinical purposes, including pressure management, increased postural control and pain management. There is, however, a significant gap between the use of tilt as recommended by clinicians and its actual usage. A web-based eHealth intervention including a goal setting, monitoring, reminder and feedback system of the use of power tilt-in-space wheelchairs was developed. The intervention incorporates behavior change principles in order to promote optimal use of tilt and to improve clinical post-procurement follow-up.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to conduct a formative evaluation of the intervention prototype in order to pinpoint the needs of end-users, namely power wheelchair users and clinicians.
Methods:
Based on an evaluation framework for web-based eHealth interventions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with power wheelchair users and clinicians. A content analysis was used, with a mix of emerging and a priori concepts.
Results:
Five users of power tilt-in-space wheelchairs, and five clinicians who had experience in the field of mobility aids aged 23 to 55, were recruited. Participants found the web interface and the physical components easy to use. They also appreciated the reminder feature that encourages the use of the tilt-in-space, as well as the customization of performance goals. Participants requested improvements to the visual design and learnability of the web interface, the customization of reminders, feedback about specific tilt parameters, and the bidirectionality of the interaction between the user and the clinician. They thought the current version of the intervention prototype can promote optimal use of the tilt and improve clinical post-procurement follow-up.
Conclusions:
Based on the needs identified by power wheelchair users and clinicians regarding the prototype of a power tilt-in-space wheelchair monitoring system, five main directions were defined for future development of the intervention. Further research with new wheelchair users, manual tilt-in-space wheelchairs and family caregivers is needed to continue the formative evaluation of the prototype.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.