LAUSR

Introduction/Background Recognizing that assistive technology (AT) for mobility play an important role in their users’ participation, it will be useful to rehabilitation professionals and services to assess if perceived psychosocial impact of such devices and associated services, systems and policies contribute to enhance lifelong capacity and performance. To build comprehensive rehabilitation services, information on a person's experience in every aspect of his/her life is essential, including the role of psychosocial impact of the wheelchair on functioning and, particularly, in participation. “What have time since diagnosis (years) and age got to do with it?” was the other question addressed in this survey. Material and method From May 2017 to January 2018, 73 wheelchair's users (35 powered and 38 manual wheelchairs), mean age 48.66 ± 15.68 years, 53.4% female, with mix diagnosis, were interviewed using the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (P-PIADS), the Activities and Participation Profile related to Mobility (PAPM) and demographics, clinical and questions about the wheelchair. Results The participation profiles revealed that 8.2% of the participants present no restrictions, 13.7% mild, 32.9% moderate and 45.23% severe restrictions in social participation. All–PIADS subscales (competence 1.36, adaptability 1.29, self-esteem 1.04) and P-PIADS total (1.25) were positive and moderately correlated to the activities and participation profile. Age and type of wheelchair do not influence statistically the participation, however, number of years on a wheelchair and medium time since diagnosis do. Conclusion These results encourage the authors to keep studying the impact of the manual and powered wheelchairs on participation to develop robust evidence for rehabilitation, particularly after finding that age and time since diagnosis do not determine participation of the wheelchair's users. A wheelchair (manual or powered) correctly prescribed and trained represents an opportunity for improving competency, adaptability and self-esteem of its user at any time since diagnosis and throughout the lifetime.