School of Occupational Therapy, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2020 Jul;15(5):553-562. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2019.1594408. Epub 2019 Apr 23.
An estimated 75 million people with disabilities need wheelchairs globally, of whom 5-15% have one. Access to an appropriate wheelchair requires rehabilitation professionals trained to provide wheelchair service. One aim of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP) is to promote and facilitate the integration of wheelchair service provision education into academic rehabilitation programs worldwide. To inform the development of integration strategies, the purpose of this study was to develop an in-depth global portrait of the wheelchair service provision education offered in academic rehabilitation programs, the process of its integration and the associated facilitators and barriers. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 14 representatives from academic rehabilitation programs (i.e., occupational therapy, physical therapy, and prosthetics and orthotics) in 11 countries, including low, middle and upper resourced settings. Thematic data analyses identified three overarching themes. The first theme, "impact of context", portrays factors related to local population needs, governance and supply chain of equipment and service delivery. The second theme, "current and planned wheelchair education", describes the content, pedagogic approach, student evaluation and feedback process. The third theme, "integration process", details five states of this process. This study describes in-depth the wheelchair service provision education across academic rehabilitation programs and resource settings, illustrating the context-dependent nature of its integration. This understanding may assist the global community of educators in preparing future rehabilitation professionals to better serve wheelchair users. This work has informed the development of ISWP's Seating and Mobility Academic Resource Toolkit (http://smart.wheelchairnetwork.org/).Implications for RehabilitationThe model, depicting the findings of this study, may help to inform key stakeholders (i.e., academic institutions, health care providers and policy makers) about potential barriers and facilitators to the implementation of adequate wheelchair service provision education in the curricula of academic rehabilitation program.Study findings may lead to creative strategies, such as the expansion of ISWP's Seating and Mobility Academic Resource Toolkit (SMART; http://smart.wheelchairnetwork.org/), that may enable academic rehabilitation programs to be a part of the solution to strengthening rehabilitation systems worldwide, through appropriately trained rehabilitation professionals in wheelchair service provision.
全球估计有 7500 万残疾人需要轮椅，其中 5-15%拥有轮椅。获得合适的轮椅需要接受过提供轮椅服务培训的康复专业人员。国际轮椅专业人员协会（ISWP）的目标之一是促进和促进将轮椅服务提供教育纳入全球学术康复计划。为了为整合策略的制定提供信息，本研究的目的是深入了解学术康复计划中提供的轮椅服务提供教育的全球概况、其整合过程以及相关的促进因素和障碍。采用目的抽样法，对来自 11 个国家的 14 名学术康复计划（即职业治疗、物理治疗和假肢矫形）的代表进行了半结构化定性访谈，这些国家包括资源水平较低、中等和较高的国家。主题数据分析确定了三个总体主题。第一个主题是“背景的影响”，描绘了与当地人口需求、设备和服务提供的治理和供应链相关的因素。第二个主题是“当前和计划中的轮椅教育”，描述了内容、教学方法、学生评估和反馈过程。第三个主题是“整合过程”，详细说明了这个过程的五个阶段。本研究深入描述了学术康复计划和资源环境中的轮椅服务提供教育，说明了其整合的背景依赖性。这种理解可能有助于全球教育工作者社区培养未来的康复专业人员，以更好地为轮椅使用者服务。这项工作为 ISWP 的座椅和移动性学术资源工具包（http://smart.wheelchairnetwork.org/）的开发提供了信息。对康复的意义该模型描绘了本研究的发现，可能有助于向主要利益相关者（即学术机构、医疗保健提供者和政策制定者）通报在学术康复计划课程中实施适当的轮椅服务提供教育的潜在障碍和促进因素。研究结果可能会导致创造性的策略，例如扩展 ISWP 的座椅和移动性学术资源工具包（SMART；http://smart.wheelchairnetwork.org/），使学术康复计划能够通过在轮椅服务提供方面受过适当培训的康复专业人员成为加强全球康复系统的解决方案的一部分。
