A national survey of wheelchair users

Abstract

In 1990 the Disablement Services Authority commissioned a national survey of wheelchair users in England to determine the user's degree of satisfaction with (a) his/her wheelchair and (b) the service provided by the DSA generally and approved repairers in particular. A total of 3082 wheelchair users (2048 women and 1026 men) participated in the survey (58% response rate), most of whom were between 60 and 90 years of age.

Although most users expressed satisfaction with their wheelchairs, an overriding problem was that assessment was generally limited to making sure that the individual 'fitted' his or her wheelchair (although even this was not always achieved). In the main, it was the demands of the social and physical environment in which a wheelchair was to be used that were so often overlooked. Also, a significant minority of people were without adequate information about their wheelchair or instruction on how to use it. Furthermore, just under half of the respondents had not heard of their approved repairer and two-thirds had not heard of their local Disablement Services Centre.

The survey concluded, inter alia, that the multidisciplinary approach, in which an occupational therapist and/or physiotherapist takes a pivotal role, which is being developed within many wheelchair centres, needed to become universal.