School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montréal, Canada.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2011 May 24;8:31. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-8-31.
Powered wheelchairs are essential for many individuals who have mobility impairments. Nevertheless, if operated improperly, the powered wheelchair poses dangers to both the user and to those in its vicinity. Thus, operating a powered wheelchair with some degree of proficiency is important for safety, and measuring driving skills becomes an important issue to address. The objective of this study was to explore the discriminate validity of outcome measures of driving skills based on joystick control strategies and performance recorded using a data logging system.
We compared joystick control strategies and performance during standardized driving tasks between a group of 10 expert and 13 novice powered wheelchair users. Driving tasks were drawn from the Wheelchair Skills Test (v. 4.1). Data from the joystick controller were collected on a data logging system. Joystick control strategies and performance outcome measures included the mean number of joystick movements, time required to complete tasks, as well as variability of joystick direction.
In simpler tasks, the expert group's driving skills were comparable to those of the novice group. Yet, in more difficult and spatially confined tasks, the expert group required fewer joystick movements for task completion. In some cases, experts also completed tasks in approximately half the time with respect to the novice group.
The analysis of joystick control made it possible to discriminate between novice and expert powered wheelchair users in a variety of driving tasks. These results imply that in spatially confined areas, a greater powered wheelchair driving skill level is required to complete tasks efficiently. Based on these findings, it would appear that the use of joystick signal analysis constitutes an objective tool for the measurement of powered wheelchair driving skills. This tool may be useful for the clinical assessment and training of powered wheelchair skills.
动力轮椅对于许多行动不便的人来说是必不可少的。然而，如果操作不当，动力轮椅会对使用者和其周围的人造成危险。因此，熟练操作动力轮椅对于安全至关重要，衡量驾驶技能成为一个重要的问题。本研究的目的是探讨基于操纵杆控制策略和数据记录系统记录的性能的驾驶技能评估结果的区分效度。
我们比较了 10 名专家和 13 名新手动力轮椅使用者在标准化驾驶任务中的操纵杆控制策略和表现。驾驶任务取自轮椅技能测试（v.4.1）。操纵杆控制器的数据在数据记录系统上进行收集。操纵杆控制策略和性能评估结果包括操纵杆移动的平均次数、完成任务所需的时间以及操纵杆方向的可变性。
在较简单的任务中，专家组的驾驶技能与新手组相当。然而，在更困难和空间受限的任务中，专家组完成任务所需的操纵杆移动次数较少。在某些情况下，专家组完成任务的时间也比新手组快了大约一半。
操纵杆控制分析能够区分各种驾驶任务中的新手和专家动力轮椅使用者。这些结果表明，在空间受限的区域，需要更高水平的动力轮椅驾驶技能才能高效地完成任务。基于这些发现，操纵杆信号分析似乎构成了衡量动力轮椅驾驶技能的客观工具。该工具可能对动力轮椅技能的临床评估和培训有用。
