Article

OBJECTIVES: To create a hierarchical list of the most essential wheeled mobility
(WM) skills for everyday life of wheelchair users with a spinal cord injury
(SCI), and to compare perceptions of WM gained during and after clinical rehabilitation. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using survey questionnaires.
SETTING: The Beijing Paralympic games, at the international zone of the Olympic
village and in different sports venues. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of men (N=49) and
women (N=30) elite manual wheelchair user athletes with SCI (paraplegia, n=64;
tetraplegia, n=15). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: A survey
with 24 predefined skills was distributed during the Beijing Paralympic games.
Respondents were asked to rate the essentiality of each skill (1, not essential;
5, extremely essential); to state where, when, and with whom they have learned to
perform each skill; and to mark the level of WM, which they gained during and
after clinical rehabilitation, on 3 different WM visual analog scales (scores
1-10). RESULTS: Rated as the most essential skill was transfer into and out of a
car (mean +/- SD, 4.7+/-0.7). Rated as the least essential skill was the 1-handed
wheelie (mean +/- SD, 1.9+/-1.3). Of the respondents, 57% have learned the most
essential skills in clinical rehabilitation, while 40% claimed to have learned
those skills afterward in a community setting. Three percent have never learned
to perform the most essential skills. Of the very essential skills, 40% were
self-taught. Mean score +/- SD for the extent to which WM skills were gained in
rehabilitation was 5.4+/-2.5. CONCLUSIONS: The main survey outcome is a sorted
list of WM skills according to their essentiality for daily life of hand-rim
wheelchair users with SCI. It is recommended to incorporate the skills that were
graded as very essential and extremely essential during inpatient rehabilitation
and in postrehabilitation WM workshops.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS