Independent Wheelchair Transfers in the Built Environment: How Transfer Setup Impacts Performance Phase 2: Final Report

Addendum G: Comparison of Transfer Abilities between Men and Women

The sample consisted of 55 men and 17 women with women having an average age of 48 ± 12 years, body weight of 163.14 ± 50.71 pounds and a height of 64.17±3.0 inches and men having an average age of 45 ± 16 years, body weight of 180.78 ± 55.12 pounds and a height of 68.11±0.6 inches. The average wheelchair seat to floor height for men was 22.2 (±1.44) inches and the average height for women was 21.65 (±1.31) inches. The following figures G1 and G2 show the difference in transfer ability between men and women for high and low transfers.

Figure G2. Mean differences between men and women for low transfers for all three protocols. The data are shown in inches.

Additionally, men transferred significantly lower (A: 13.6 (4.02), B: 12.61 (3.60), C: 12.74 (3.7) inches) than women (A: 17.84 (4.2), B: 16.7 (4.41), C: 16.36 (4.69) inches) with p-values (0.04, 0.04 and 0.026).

The addition of grab bars helped the women and the men to transfer slightly higher and lower than their wheelchair seat height.