International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Department of Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2021 Nov;16(8):918-926. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1749897. Epub 2020 Apr 10.
Wheelchair users typically receive little training about wheelchair maintenance. Therefore, we developed a peer-led, manual wheelchair skills maintenance training programme, with the intention of evaluating its efficacy in a future experimental study.
The purpose of this feasibility study was to examine how well we were able to implement the training programme and to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a larger scale clinical trial.
Spinal cord injury research centre.
Five mentors and fifteen mentees were recruited to complete this feasibility study.
We collected information about recruitment capability and sample characteristics, data collection procedure, acceptability of the training programme, resources required, and participants' responses to the intervention. Participants completed all the items and we had little missing data. Participants did not face any difficulty answering the questionnaires or performing the tests. Therefore, we could conclude data collection was feasible moving forward to perform larger efficacy trials. The acceptability of the wheelchair maintenance programme was more than 90%. There was a statistically significant improvement in wheelchair maintenance knowledge test and total rolling resistance. Confidence of mentees increased significantly after the training. Improvements in the 3-cone test and the 6-min push test results were not significant.
If recruitment and scheduling challenges can be overcome, our data suggested that it is feasible to conduct a larger experimental study to test the efficacy of the programme.Implications for RehabilitationWheelchair maintenance skills are important to help wheelchair users keep their wheelchairs working safely and efficiently.The findings from this study suggest that a peer-led wheelchair maintenance training programme may improve participants' wheelchair maintenance knowledge and maintenance self-confidence.The study also suggests that a peer-led wheelchair maintenance training programme may decrease the rolling resistance of participants' wheelchairs.A larger clinical trial is needed to demonstrate the efficacy of this intervention authoritatively.
轮椅使用者通常很少接受轮椅维护方面的培训。因此，我们开发了一个由同伴主导的手动轮椅技能维护培训计划，旨在评估其在未来实验研究中的效果。
本可行性研究的目的是考察我们实施培训计划的能力，并评估进行更大规模临床试验的可行性。
脊髓损伤研究中心。
招募了五名导师和十五名学员参加这项可行性研究。
我们收集了有关招募能力和样本特征、数据收集程序、培训计划的可接受性、所需资源以及参与者对干预措施的反应的信息。参与者完成了所有项目，我们的数据几乎没有缺失。参与者在回答问卷或进行测试时没有遇到任何困难。因此，我们可以得出结论，数据收集是可行的，可以进行更大规模的疗效试验。轮椅维护计划的可接受性超过 90%。轮椅维护知识测试和总滚动阻力均有显著改善。学员的信心在培训后显著提高。3 锥测试和 6 分钟推动测试结果的改善不显著。
如果能够克服招募和安排方面的挑战，我们的数据表明，进行更大规模的实验研究来测试该计划的效果是可行的。
轮椅维护技能对于帮助轮椅使用者安全有效地保持轮椅正常工作非常重要。
这项研究的结果表明，同伴主导的轮椅维护培训计划可能会提高参与者的轮椅维护知识和维护自信心。
该研究还表明，同伴主导的轮椅维护培训计划可能会降低参与者轮椅的滚动阻力。
需要更大规模的临床试验来权威地证明这种干预的效果。
