Abstract. In the present study, we investigated the wheelchairs used for the older people who live in aged-care nursing home to clarify the current problems which occur with using wheelchair. We measured the fit between the sizes of the wheelchair and the physical dimensions of the older people by the same token. We conducted a research of 61 participants who had used wheelchairs on a daily basis and could not move around without them. We measured the wheelchair sizes and the physical dimensions of the participants by the Wheelchair Measure Set, and compared measured data with the recommended value stipulated by the special interest group (SIG) of a rehabilitation engineering society of Japan. The main purpose of using wheelchair were moving around (98%), sitting (93%), and feeding (90%). The mean daily usage of wheelchair was 9.9±4.0 hours, and maximal score was 16 hours. Over 80% of the participants had used wheelchairs which were provided by the aged-care nursing home. Most of the wheelchairs were lacking in adjustable function, and additionally about half of the wheelchairs did not have enough air or were flat tyres. In terms of the fit between the wheelchair sizes and physical dimensions of the older people, most of the wheelchairs were much bigger than the recommended value. Therefore, the older people who live in aged-care nursing home were spending much of their day in a wheelchair. Howbeit they had used very poor fit wheelchairs which were provided by the facility.
Keywords. wheelchair fitting, aged-care nursing homes, life support for elderly people.
総p.208 pp.61-66
