Boccardi Alyssa, Wu Fangzheng, Pearlman Jon, Mhatre Anand
Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Occupational Therapy Division, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, United States.
JMIR Aging. 2022 Oct 18;5(4):e39301. doi: 10.2196/39301.
Wheelchair part failures have doubled over the past decade. Preventative wheelchair maintenance reduces wheelchair failures and prevents user consequences. We are developing a smartphone app called WheelTrak, which alerts users when maintenance is required, to encourage maintenance practices and compliance.
This mixed methods study aimed to develop a wheelchair maintenance app using broad stakeholder advice and investigate older adults' interaction experience with the app and their perceived barriers to and facilitators of maintenance.
Interviews were conducted with stakeholders, including mobility device users, to generate needs statements and app specifications. The app was designed in 2 stages. Stage 1 involved the development of the app according to the specifications and evaluation of the app interface by lead users. Stage 2 included the revision of the app screens and manual functionality testing. Usability testing and semistructured interviews were conducted with older wheelchair and scooter users. The System Usability Scale was used to measure app usability.
Interviews with power and manual wheelchair users (37/57, 65%), wheelchair service providers (15/57, 26%), manufacturers (2/57, 4%), seating and mobility researchers (1/57, 2%), and insurance plan providers (2/57, 4%) informed the needs and specifications of the app technology. The 2-stage development process delivered a fully functional app that met the design specifications. In total, 12 older adults (mean age 74.2, SD 9.1 years; n=10, 83% women; and n=2, 17% men) participated in the usability testing study. Of the 12 participants, 9 (75%) agreed to use WheelTrak for preventative maintenance. WheelTrak scored an average System Usability Scale score of 60.25 (SD 16). Four overarching themes were identified: WheelTrak app improvements, barriers to maintenance, consequences related to mobility device failure, and smart technology use and acceptance. Older adults preferred the simplicity, readability, personalization, and availability of educational resources in the app. Barriers to maintenance pertained to health issues and lack of maintenance knowledge among older adults. Facilitators of maintenance included notification for maintenance, app connectivity with the service provider, reporting of device failure, and the presence of a caregiver for maintenance.
This study highlighted age-friendly design improvements to the app, making it easy to be used and adopted by older wheelchair users. The WheelTrak app has close to average system usability. Additional usability testing will be conducted following app revision in the future.
在过去十年中，轮椅部件故障增加了一倍。预防性轮椅维护可减少轮椅故障并避免对使用者造成不良后果。我们正在开发一款名为WheelTrak的智能手机应用程序，当需要维护时，该程序会提醒用户，以鼓励维护措施的实施和合规性。
这项混合方法研究旨在利用广泛的利益相关者建议开发一款轮椅维护应用程序，并调查老年人与该应用程序的交互体验以及他们对维护的感知障碍和促进因素。
与包括移动设备使用者在内的利益相关者进行访谈，以生成需求陈述和应用程序规范。该应用程序分两个阶段设计。第一阶段包括根据规范开发应用程序并由主要用户对应用程序界面进行评估。第二阶段包括修订应用程序屏幕和进行手动功能测试。对老年轮椅和踏板车使用者进行了可用性测试和半结构化访谈。使用系统可用性量表来衡量应用程序的可用性。
对电动和手动轮椅使用者（37/57，65%）、轮椅服务提供商（15/57，26%）、制造商（2/57，4%）、座椅和移动性研究人员（1/57，2%）以及保险计划提供商（2/57，4%）的访谈为应用程序技术的需求和规范提供了信息。两阶段开发过程产生了一个符合设计规范的全功能应用程序。共有12名老年人（平均年龄74.2岁，标准差9.1岁；n = 10，83%为女性；n = 2，17%为男性）参与了可用性测试研究。在这12名参与者中，9人（75%）同意使用WheelTrak进行预防性维护。WheelTrak在系统可用性量表上的平均得分为60.25（标准差16）。确定了四个总体主题：WheelTrak应用程序的改进、维护障碍、与移动设备故障相关的后果以及智能技术的使用和接受度。老年人更喜欢应用程序的简单性、可读性、个性化以及教育资源的可用性。维护障碍与老年人的健康问题和缺乏维护知识有关。维护的促进因素包括维护通知、应用程序与服务提供商的连接、设备故障报告以及有护理人员进行维护。
本研究强调了对应用程序进行适合老年人的设计改进，使其易于老年轮椅使用者使用和采用。WheelTrak应用程序的系统可用性接近平均水平。未来在应用程序修订后将进行更多的可用性测试。
