Dicianno Brad E, Joseph James, Eckstein Stacy, Zigler Christina K, Quinby Eleanor, Schmeler Mark R, Schein Richard M, Pearlman Jon, Cooper Rory A
Human Engineering Research Laboratories, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Mil Med. 2018 Nov 1;183(11-12):e518-e525. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usy033.
A total of 3.6 million Americans and over 250,000 veterans use wheelchairs. The need for advancements in mobility-assistive technologies is continually growing due to advances in medicine and rehabilitation that preserve and prolong the lives of people with disabilities, increases in the senior population, and increases in the number of veterans and civilians involved in conflict situations. The purpose of this study is to survey a large sample of veterans and other consumers with disabilities who use mobility-assistive technologies to identify priorities for future research and development.
This survey asked participants to provide opinions on the importance of developing various mobility-assistive technologies and to rank the importance of certain technologies. Participants were also asked to provide open-ended comments and suggestions.
A total of 1,022 individuals, including 500 veterans, from 49 states within the USA and Puerto Rico completed the survey. The average age of respondents was 54.3 yr, and they represented both new and experienced users of mobility-assistive technologies. The largest diagnostic group was spinal cord injury (SCI) (N = 491, 48.0%). Several themes on critical areas of research emerged from the open-ended questions, which generated a total of 1,199 comments.
This survey revealed several themes for future research and development. Advanced wheelchair design, smart device applications, human-machine interfaces, and assistive robotics and intelligent systems emerged as priorities. Survey results also demonstrated the importance for researchers to understand the effects of policy and cost on translational research and to be involved in educating both consumers and providers.
共有360万美国人和超过25万退伍军人使用轮椅。由于医学和康复领域的进步延长了残疾人的寿命、老年人口增加以及参与冲突的退伍军人和平民数量增多，对移动辅助技术进步的需求持续增长。本研究的目的是对大量使用移动辅助技术的退伍军人和其他残疾消费者进行调查，以确定未来研发的重点。
本次调查要求参与者对开发各种移动辅助技术的重要性发表意见，并对某些技术的重要性进行排序。参与者还被要求提供开放式的意见和建议。
来自美国49个州和波多黎各的1022人完成了调查，其中包括500名退伍军人。受访者的平均年龄为54.3岁，他们代表了移动辅助技术的新用户和有经验的用户。最大的诊断群体是脊髓损伤（SCI）（N = 491，48.0%）。开放式问题产生了总共1199条意见，从中出现了几个关于关键研究领域的主题。
本次调查揭示了几个未来研发的主题。先进的轮椅设计、智能设备应用、人机界面以及辅助机器人和智能系统成为优先事项。调查结果还表明，研究人员了解政策和成本对转化研究的影响并参与对消费者和提供者的教育非常重要。
