A Description of Project Workout on Wheels: Testing an Intervention to Increase Physical Activity Among Wheelchair Users

Project Workout on Wheels [PWOW] is a randomized controlled trial of a 12-month multi-component behavioral intervention to promote adoption and maintenance of aerobic exercise among wheelchair users aged 18-65. This presentation provides a program overview and baseline data on enrollees to date (n=85), including exercise self-efficacy and barriers to health promotion activities. The most common activities pursued during the intervention are also reported.

Nearly half the sample is obese (45%), and 15% are extremely obese, according to NHLBI criteria. Participants' average age is 43.5 +/- 12.7 and half are male. Participants are predominantly white (83%) and half are spinal cord injured (51%). They report high exercise self-efficacy and relatively few health promotion barriers as measured by several scales. Their mean score on the Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale is 36.3 +/- 8.3 (range of 10-50), on the Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale is 22.3 +/- 4.3 (range of 0-28), and on the Barriers to Health Activities for Disabled Persons scale is 29.3 +/-6.2 (range of 16-64). Participants' most frequently reported barriers are (1) lack of community exercise facilities, (2) lack of information about health promotion, (3) lack of support, (4) fatigue, and (5) lack of resources. During the intervention phase, the most common aerobic activities pursued by participants are wheeling, arm cycling, using seated aerobic videos, or using other types of aerobic exercise equipment. This is an ongoing study and effectiveness analyses are forthcoming.

This project is supported by NIH grant # R01 HD048628.