Metta: a Tablet-based Platform for Monitored at Home Training as Demonstrated through the Epicwheels Wheelchair Skills Training Program

Education and training are key components of any rehabilitation program. While such services are ideally delivered in person, cost, time and travel demands often prevent clinicians from offering this level of personalized interaction. Mobility is the most prevalent area of impairment among Canadian older adults and hence a key target for such programs. Manual wheelchairs (MWCs) are a commonly used assistive device, but merely acquiring a MWC does not guarantee satisfactory performance of desired activities: In Canada, over 90% of older MWC users experienced restricted performance in at least one major life activity (Statistics Canada, 2008). A structured education program delivered in-person, such as the Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP), can produce significant improvement in skill capacity among adult MWC users (for example, see (Best, Kirby, Smith, & MacLeod, 2005)); however, few older adults receive such training because of resource limitations.