Data Logger Technologies for Powered Wheelchairs: A Scoping Review

In recent years, studies increasingly employed data loggers to record the objective behaviors of powered wheelchair users. Of the data logging work reported in the literature, the technologies used offer marked differences in characteristics. In order to identify and describe the extent of published research activity that relies on data logger technologies for powered wheelchairs, we performed a scoping review of the scientific and grey literature. This scoping review, complementary to a previous one related to manual wheelchairs, is part of a process aiming to help further the development and increase the functionality of data loggers with wheelchairs. Five databases were searched: Medline, Compendex, CINAHL, EMBASE, Google Scholar. Sixty papers were retained for analysis. The most frequently used technologies were all installed on the wheelchair: 19.0% were accelerometers, 14.6% were pressure sensors or switches, 13.9% were odometers, 10.9% were global positioning systems, 9.5% were tilt sensors, and 7.3% were force-sensing technologies. The most reported outcomes were pressure-relief activities (17.3%), distance traveled (9.3%), mobility events (8.9%), acceleration (8.5%), and sitting time (6.9%). Future research may be needed to assess the usefulness of different outcomes and to develop methods more appropriate to optimize the practicality of wheelchair data loggers.