Wheelchair Outcome Measure (WhOM)
(Medium close-up shot of Dr. Ben Mortenson, Assistant Professor, OT, from the University of British Columbia.)
Dr. Ben Mortenson: With the wheelchair outcome measure, we are really interested in people’s participation.
By participation, we mean the big things that they want to do with their lives.
(Clips of people with SCI walking a dog and wheeling along a sidewalk.)
That might be walking the dog, going to work, or seeing a movie.
Those are the bigger, higher-level outcomes that we want to evaluate.
(Video of Dr. Mortenson greeting a man with SCI.)
The Wheelchair Outcome Measure is a client-centered measure, which means we find from the client what it is they want to be doing and evaluate those activities.
(Return to medium close-up shot of Dr. Mortenson.)
It’s pen and paper, so no special tools are required, and it takes about 15 minutes to administer.
(Slide titled “PART I” with two bullet points:
1)IN THE HOME ACTIVITIES
preparing meals, watching TV, gardening, etc.
2)OUTSIDE THE HOME (IN THE COMMUNITY) ACTIVITIES
Walking the dog, going for coffee, to work, to park, etc.)
First off, ask people what activities they want to use their wheelchair for within the home and what activities do you want to use your wheelchair for outside the home in the community.
(A picture of the Wheelchair Outcome Measure sheet is shown indicating where clients should write their importance and satisfaction ratings.)
At that point we will get them to rate how important those activities are on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being completely unimportant and 10 being extremely important.
Then rate their level of satisfaction from those activities on the same scale, with 0 being completely unsatisfied and 10 being extremely satisfied.
(Words “Importance scores over 7 are considered higher priority” appear on screen.)
(Slide titled “PART II” with three bullet points: Body positioning, comfort, and skin breakdown.)
In the second part of the WhOM, we get people to rate their satisfaction with their positioning, their comfort, and whether they have had any skin breakdown.
(A picture of the Wheelchair Outcome Measure sheet is shown, indicating where clients should write the product of their importance and satisfaction ratings.)
For scoring the measure, multiply the importance by the satisfaction and add those up for each goal.
(Return to medium close-up shot of Dr. Mortenson.)
When you re-administer the Wheelchair Outcome Measure, we ask that you justdo the satisfaction again.
(Transition to slide titled “Reassessment” with words “In satisfaction scores, a change of >2 is a meaningful change.”)
If you’ve been able to determine a changedscore of 2 in people’s satisfaction for a specific goal, then that is a meaningful, clinical change.
Then you know that you’ve actually done something.
(Return to scene with Dr. Mortenson speaking to a client.)
By administering the Wheelchair Outcome Measure before and after the interventionlike providing a new wheelchair, new seating, or training, you can look at how your intervention has changed the client’s satisfaction with their participation in goals that are important to them.
(Words “Any satisfaction score under 7 is an area for clinical improvement!” appear on screen)
(Transition to new slide with words “Wheelchair Outcome Measure (WhOM): Things of Note.”)
(Return to scene with Dr. Mortenson speaking to a client.)
If a person is having problems identifying activities that they want to do with their wheelchair, it is permissible to suggest options based on the things you know about them already or perhaps things you know about similar clients who might do other things in the community.
(Camera scans down a sample of the Wheelchair Outcome Measure sheet.)
You can use the Wheelchair Outcome Measure whenever you want.
Oftentimes you will use it when there is a change that’s anticipated; So, if someone is looking for a new wheelchair, you’ll want to get base-lineinformation on that person.
(Return to scene with Dr. Mortenson listening to a client while filling out the Wheelchair Outcome Measure.)
Then when you give them their new device, you can evaluate it.
(Return to medium close-up shot of Dr. Mortenson.)
With people who have more than one wheelchair, you can administer more than one WhOM.
So, you have a WhOM per wheelchair.
The WhOM is available free of charge for everyone.
(Slide with informationon the WhOM:
“For the WhOM scoring sheet and manual go to:
The WhOM is available in English, French (Canadian), Italian and Farsi.”)
We only ask that people register so that they can receive the WhOM, and also get updates about it and its development.
The measure’s available from our website, the SCIRE website, or also from Dr. Miller’s homepage.
(Words “Proudly Supported by” appear with Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and Rick Hansen Institute logos below.)
(Previous screen fades and is replaced by the words “Thank You to” followed by “William C. Miller, Ben Mortenson, Clifford Seid, Clarence Phelps, Rob Gosse & Emmie, Matthew Querée, Shannon Sproule, and SCIRE Team,” with the University of British Columbia’s logoon the bottom left corner and icord’s logo on the bottom right.)
(Words “Created by MerilinPaart at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility’s Knowledge Mobilization Studio” appear with its logo and website at