Wheelchair Mobility Confidence Scale for Dutch youth using a manual wheelchair

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to develop a questionnaire to assess confidence in wheelchair mobility in Dutch youth (WheelCon-Mobility Dutch Youth).

Methods: (1) A forward–backward translation process was used to translate the original WheelCon-M from English to Dutch. (2) Items related to wheelchair mobility in Dutch youth were selected and adapted based on focus groups with youth, parents and health care professionals to create the WheelCon-Mobility Dutch Youth. (3) The WheelCon-Mobility Dutch Youth and the Utrecht Pediatric Wheelchair Mobility Skills Test 2.0 (UP-WMST 2.0) were administered to 62 participants to evaluate internal consistency and construct validity.

Results: Translation and cultural adaptation led to general adaptations in instructions, sentence structure and response scale. At the item level, 24 items were included with (n = 17) and without (n = 7) adaptation, 10 items were deleted and 7 new items were included. The WheelCon-Mobility Dutch Youth had an excellent Cronbach’s alpha of 0.924 and a significant correlation (r = 0.44, p < .001) with the UP-WMST 2.0.

Conclusions: This study resulted in the adaptation of the WheelCon-M into the WheelCon-Mobility for Dutch youth using a manual wheelchair. Our study suggests there is evidence supporting the internal consistency and construct validity of the WheelCon-Mobility Dutch Youth.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• The WheelCon-Mobility Dutch Youth is a newly developed tool for assessing confidence in wheelchair mobility in Dutch youth using a manual wheelchair.

• It is important to assess performance and confidence in wheelchair mobility in paediatric rehabilitation.

Keywords:

• WheelCon
• wheelchair mobility
• youth
• translation
• validity
• confidence

Acknowledgements

This study is part of the Fit For the Future collaboration; H. Wittink, A. Dallmeijer, R van den Berg-Emons. We would like to thank all participating children, their parents and health care professionals for volunteering their time and sharing their experiences with us. We would like to thank Tim Schilling for his help with the translations. We would like to thank all the participating students who have enthusiastically contributed to the data collection and analysis in the Let’s Ride study. We are especially grateful to the BOSK patient organization and KJ-projects for sharing their expertise and involvement in the Wheelchair Mobility Skills Training program.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the SIA-RAAK under grant [PRO-4–03] and the Dutch Foundation for Disabled Children [20150131].