Wheeled repair alliance: Rolling out wheelchair repair and maintenance in community bicycle shops

ABSTRACT

The increasing population of wheelchair users in the United States highlights the importance of access to reliable and affordable wheelchair maintenance and repair. Having a well-maintained mobility device is essential to living a safe, healthy, and social life as a wheelchair user. Unfortunately, access to these services is limited. This study aims to address this need by developing and evaluating a workshop program designed to teach basic wheelchair maintenance skills to bike shop employees, allied health professionals, and wheelchair users themselves. The workshops covered key wheelchair maintenance tasks. Pre and post workshop surveys assessed participants’ confidence in basic maintenance and repair skills and overall satisfaction with the workshop. Workshop participants reported increased confidence in all maintenance skills following the workshops and bike shop employees expressed increased confidence in their ability to work with and provide resources for wheelchair users. This study highlights that community-based workshops may help to enhance confidence in wheelchair maintenance skills, potentially aiding in bridging the gap in affordable and accessible repair services. The Wheeled Repair Alliance has the potential to empower wheelchair users and improve their quality of life. Further research should consider increasing the precision of measurements and assessing long-term outcomes related to wheelchair maintenance and repair.

KEYWORDS:

• manual wheelchairs
• preventative maintenance
• service delivery
• training

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all of the participants, as well as the many individuals who supported efforts at Temple University, especially Alanna Raffel.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by funding under Section 4 State Grants for Assistive Technology, of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended [P.L. 108-364].