Identifying fall prevention and management needs of people post-stroke who use wheelchairs and scooters
type: CreativeWork
description: People post-stroke who use wheelchairs or scooters (WC/S) for mobility represent an understudied and underserved population in fall prevention research. While falls are widely documented among people post-stroke who are ambulatory, little is known about fall incidence, consequences, contributing factors, and fall prevention programs among people post-stroke who use WC/S full-time. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the fall prevention and management needs of people post-stroke who use WC/S and to generate understanding and knowledge to guide development of tailored, evidence-informed fall prevention and management programming. This dissertation used a mixed-methods approach consisting of two phases. Phase I was a systematic review of fall incidence, consequences, contributing factors, and existing fall prevention and management programs for people post-stroke who use WC/S. Seven studies met inclusion criteria. Review findings revealed high fall incidence (up to 47% during inpatient rehabilitation), with falls commonly occurring during transfers and wheelchair operation. Injuries were typically minor but may have been underestimated due to the controlled inpatient environment. Risk factors included impaired balance and postural control, spatial and cognitive deficits, behavioral impulsivity, and inadequate WC/S transfer training. Few intervention studies were identified, and no comprehensive, community-based fall prevention programs existed for this population. Phase II included three complementary studies: (1) a convergent parallel mixed-methods study with people post-stroke who use WC/S (online survey + semi-structured interviews), identified their perception of fall risks, consequences, contributing factors, and fall recovery strategies based on the unique personal insights, (2) qualitative interviews with care partners and clinicians, gathered their perspectives on the perception of fall risks, consequences, contributing factors, and fall recovery s…
abstract: People post-stroke who use wheelchairs or scooters (WC/S) for mobility represent an understudied and underserved population in fall prevention research. While falls are widely documented among people post-stroke who are ambulatory, little is known about fall incidence, consequences, contributing factors, and fall prevention programs among people post-stroke who use WC/S full-time. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the fall prevention and management needs of people post-stroke who use WC/S and to generate understanding and knowledge to guide development of tailored, evidence-informed fall prevention and management programming. This dissertation used a mixed-methods approach consisting of two phases. Phase I was a systematic review of fall incidence, consequences, contributing factors, and existing fall prevention and management programs for people post-stroke who use WC/S. Seven studies met inclusion criteria. Review findings revealed high fall incidence (up to 47% during inpatient rehabilitation), with falls commonly occurring during transfers and wheelchair operation. Injuries were typically minor but may have been underestimated due to the controlled inpatient environment. Risk factors included impaired balance and postural control, spatial and cognitive deficits, behavioral impulsivity, and inadequate WC/S transfer training. Few intervention studies were identified, and no comprehensive, community-based fall prevention programs existed for this population. Phase II included three complementary studies: (1) a convergent parallel mixed-methods study with people post-stroke who use WC/S (online survey + semi-structured interviews), identified their perception of fall risks, consequences, contributing factors, and fall recovery strategies based on the unique personal insights, (2) qualitative interviews with care partners and clinicians, gathered their perspectives on the perception of fall risks, consequences, contributing factors, and fall recovery s…
author: Li, Ziwei
language: en
keywords: wheelchair, fall, stroke
date published: 2025-12
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:07Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132664