Abstract
Purpose
To test the hypothesis that a Remote-Learning Course improves the subjective wheelchair-skills performance and confidence of wheelchair service providers, and to determine the participants’ views on the Course.
Methods
This was an observational cohort study, with pre-post comparisons. To meet the objectives of the six-week Course, the curriculum included self-study and weekly one-hour remote meetings. Participants submitted their Wheelchair Skills Test Questionnaire (WST-Q) (Version 5.3.1) “performance” and “confidence” scores before and after the Course. Participants also completed a Course Evaluation Form after the Course.
Results
The 121 participants were almost all from the rehabilitation professions, with a median of 6 years of experience. The mean (SD) WST-Q performance scores rose from 53.4% (17.8) pre-Course to 69.2% (13.8) post-Course, a 29.6% relative improvement (p < 0.0001). The mean (SD) WST-Q confidence scores rose from 53.5% (17.9) to 69.5% (14.3), a 29.9% relative improvement (p < 0.0001). Correlations between performance and confidence were highly significant (p < 0.0001). The Course Evaluation indicated that most participants found the Course useful, relevant, understandable, enjoyable, “just right” in duration, and most stated that they would recommend the Course to others.
Conclusions
Although there is room for improvement, a Remote-Learning Course improves the subjective wheelchair-skills performance and confidence scores of wheelchair service providers by almost 30%, and participants were generally positive about the Course.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
A Remote-Learning Course improves the subjective wheelchair-skills performance and confidence scores of wheelchair service providers by almost 30%.
Participants were generally positive about the Course.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the support of the Ontario Spinal Cord Injury Implementation and Evaluation Quality Care, in particular Drs. B. Cathy Craven, Dalton L. Wolfe, Farnoosh Farahani (Network Manager) and Julianne Hong (Implementation Support).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Geolocation information
This study was conducted in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (gps coordinates 44° 39′ 3.8520″ N and 63° 34′ 57.6732″ W).
Reprints
Not available from the authors.
Registration number
This study was registered with OSF https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5SY94.