Background:

One-fifth of all disabled children have mobility limitations. Early provision of powered mobility for very young children (aged < 5 years) is hypothesised to trigger positive developmental changes. However, the optimum age at which to introduce powered mobility is unknown.

Objective:

The aim of this project was to synthesise existing evidence regarding the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of powered mobility for very young children, compared with the more common practice of powered mobility provision from the age of 5 years.

Review methods:

The study was planned as a mixed-methods evidence synthesis and economic modelling study. First, evidence relating to the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility and anticipated outcomes of paediatric powered mobility interventions was reviewed. A convergent mixed-methods evidence synthesis was undertaken using framework synthesis, and a separate qualitative evidence synthesis was undertaken using thematic synthesis. The two syntheses were subsequently compared and contrasted to develop a logic model for evaluating the outcomes of powered mobility interventions for children. Because there were insufficient published data, it was not possible to develop a robust economic model. Instead, a budget impact analysis was conducted to estimate the cost of increased powered mobility provision for very young children, using cost data from publicly available sources.

Data sources:

A range of bibliographic databases [Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINHAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE™ (Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Occupational Therapy Systematic Evaluation of Evidence (OTseeker), Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), PsycINFO, Science Citation Index (SCI; Clarivate Analytics, Philadelphia, PA, USA), Social Sciences Citation Index™ (SSCI; Clarivate Analytics), Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Science (CPCI-S; Clarivate Analytics), Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH; Clarivate Analytics), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Database and OpenGrey] was systematically searched and the included studies were quality appraised. Searches were carried out in June 2018 and updated in October 2019. The date ranges searched covered from 1946 to September 2019.

Results:

In total, 89 studies were included in the review. Only two randomised controlled trials were identified. The overall quality of the evidence was low. No conclusive evidence was found about the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of powered mobility in children aged either < 5 or ≥ 5 years. However, strong support was found that powered mobility interventions have a positive impact on children’s movement and mobility, and moderate support was found for the impact on children’s participation, play and social interactions and on the safety outcome of accidents and pain. ‘Fit’ between the child, the equipment and the environment was found to be important, as were the outcomes related to a child’s independence, freedom and self-expression. The evidence supported two distinct conceptualisations of the primary powered mobility outcome, movement and mobility: the former is ‘movement for movement’s sake’ and the latter destination-focused mobility. Powered mobility should be focused on ‘movement for movement’s sake’ in the first instance. From the budget impact analysis, it was estimated that, annually, the NHS spends £1.89M on the provision of powered mobility for very young children, which is < 2% of total wheelchair service expenditure.

Limitations:

The original research question could not be answered because there was a lack of appropriately powered published research.

Conclusions:

Early powered mobility is likely to have multiple benefits for very young children, despite the lack of robust evidence to demonstrate this. Age is not the key factor; instead, the focus should be on providing developmentally appropriate interventions and focusing on ‘movement for movement’s sake’.

Future work:

Future research should focus on developing, implementing, evaluating and comparing different approaches to early powered mobility.

Study registration:

This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42018096449.

Funding:

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 50. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Article history

The research reported in this issue of the journal was funded by the HTA programme as project number 17/70/01. The contractual start date was in April 2018. The draft report began editorial review in June 2019 and was accepted for publication in March 2020. The authors have been wholly responsible for all data collection, analysis and interpretation, and for writing up their work. The HTA editors and publisher have tried to ensure the accuracy of the authors’ report and would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive comments on the draft document. However, they do not accept liability for damages or losses arising from material published in this report.

Declared competing interests of authors

Niina Kolehmainen is a panel member of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Prioritisation Committee for Maternal, Child and Mental Health Care (2018 to present) and was a panel member of the NIHR HTA Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Topic Identification, Development and Evaluation Panel (2015–18). Jane Noyes was a member of the NIHR Dissemination Centre Advisory Group (2015–20) and was a Trustee of Whizz-Kidz (2005–9) (Whizz-Kidz is a not-for-profit organisation and an NHS provider of wheelchairs for children). Dawn Craig is a member of the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research Researcher-led Prioritisation Committee (2018 to present) and a member of the Health and Care Research Wales Funding Research for Patient & Public Benefit Committee (2017 to present).