Feasibility of a peer-led, manual wheelchair maintenance skills training programme to improve wheelchair efficiency, and knowledge and confidence about wheelchair maintenance: a pre–post study

Abstract

Background

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.

Purpose

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.

Setting

Spinal cord injury research centre.

Participants

Five mentors and fifteen mentees were recruited to complete this feasibility study.

Method

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.

Conclusions

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 Rehabilitation

• Wheelchair 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.

Keywords:

• Wheelchair maintenance
• peer mentorship
• wheelchair maintainance knowledge
• self-confidence
• 6-min push test
• 3-cone test
• drag test

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all participants, Mr. Ian Denison, and the Physical Activity Research Centre at the International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries Research Centre.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. They have made all the training and evaluation materials freely available online and receive no remuneration from them.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by a Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute Innovation and Translational Research Award. Dr. Mortenson was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health New Investigator Award.