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Abstract

Objective: The primary objective was to evaluate the effect of a peer-led wheelchair training program on self-efficacy for manual wheelchair (MWC) use. Secondary outcomes were to explore influences of the intervention on MWC skills, life-space mobility and satisfaction with participation. Design: Pilot randomized controlled trial Setting: Rehabilitation centre and community Participants: Community-living, MWC users, mean MWC experience 13y, mean age 49y, 21% female. Interventions: The experimental group (n=16) received 6,1.5 hour sessions of a peer-led selfefficacy enhanced wheelchair training program (WheelSee). Based on individualized goals, peertrainers administered WheelSee to pairs of MWC users. The control group (n=12) receive no intervention. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome, wheelchair use self-efficacy, was assessed using the Wheelchair Use Confidence Scale (WheelCon3.0). Secondary outcomes included wheelchair skills capacity and performance (Wheelchair Skills Test-Questionnaire (WST-Q 4.1)), life-space mobility (Life-space Assessment (LSA)), and satisfaction with participation (Wheelchair Outcome Measure (WhOM)). Results: Controlling for baseline scores, analysis of co-variance revealed that WheelSee had a large statistically significant effect on MWC use self-efficacy (Cohen’s d=1.4, p=0.002) compared to a control group. WheelSee also had a large statistically significant effect on MWC skills capacity (Cohen’s d=1.3, p=0.003) and performance (Cohen’s d=1.0, p=0.02). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups for life-space mobility or satisfaction with participation. Conclusion: A peer-led MWC training program improves wheelchair use self-efficacy in adult MWC users, and had a positive influence on other wheelchair-related outcomes. WheelSee may offer a promising intervention strategy to accommodate the training needs of community-living manual wheelchair users.