Article

OBJECTIVES: To test the hypotheses that, in comparison with a control group that
received standard care, users of manual wheelchairs who also received the
French-Canadian version of the Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP) would
significantly improve their wheelchair-skills capacity and that these
improvements would be retained at 3 months. DESIGN: Multicenter, single-blind,
randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Three rehabilitation centers in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Manual wheelchair users (N=39),
a sample of
convenience. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly allocated to the WSTP or
control groups. Participants in both groups received standard care. Participants
in the WSTP group also received a mean of 5.9 training sessions (a mean total
duration of 5h and 36min).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The French-Canadian version of
the Wheelchair Skills Test (WST) (Version 3.2) was administered at evaluation at
first time period (baseline) (t1), evaluation at second time period
(posttraining) (t2) (a mean of 47d after t1), and at evaluation at third time
period (follow-up) (t3) (a mean of 101d after t2). RESULTS: At t2, the mean +/-
SD total percentage WST capacity scores were 77.4%+/-13.8% for the WSTP group and
69.8%+/-18.4% for the control group (P=.030). Most of this difference was due to
the community-level skills (P=.002). The total and subtotal Wheelchair Skills
Test scores at t3 decreased by </=0.5% from the t2 values, but differences
between groups at t3, adjusting for t1, did not reach statistical significance
(P>/=.017 at a Bonferroni-adjusted alpha level of .005). CONCLUSION: WSTP
training improves wheelchair skills immediately after training, particularly at
the community-skills level, but this study did not show statistically significant
differences between the groups at 3 months.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS