title: The manual wheelchair-handling skills of caregivers and the effect of training.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesis that the Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP) is effective in improving the wheelchair-handling skills of untrained caregivers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Within-participant comparisons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rehabilitation center and community.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four caregivers of manual wheelchair users.
  
  
  METHODS
  Caregiver participants underwent the WSTP, version 2.4, adapted for caregivers. Training was individualized on the basis of an integrated testing-and-training protocol that took place on a single occasion (total, approximately 50 min).
  
  
  METHODS
  Total percentage scores on the objective Wheelchair Skills Test (WST), version 2.4, for the pretraining (N=24), posttraining (N=24), and retention (n=9) evaluations. For the skill-transfer evaluation (n=10), we used the questionnaire version (WST-Q), administered by telephone to participants after return to their communities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no serious adverse incidents. The mean pretraining total WST score +/- standard deviation was 77.8%+/-12.0%. Posttraining, this increased to 94.7%+/-7.1% (P <.001), a 22% relative increase. At retention testing, a median latency of 7 days later, the mean value, 94.2%+/-7.1%, did not decrease significantly from the posttraining level (P =.38). At skill-transfer testing, a median latency of 179 days posttraining, the mean value, 92.5%+/-8.7%, did not decrease significantly from the posttraining level (P =.73). The greatest improvements were at the advanced skill level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The WSTP is a safe, practical, and effective method of improving the wheelchair-handling skills of untrained caregivers. Skill improvements are generally well retained and transfer well to the community. Such training could play an important role in the rehabilitation process.
authors.affiliation: Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada. kirby@dal.ca
authors.forename: R Lee
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Kirby
authors.forename: Naomi J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Mifflen
authors.forename: Deborah L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.forename: Cher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Krista L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Best
authors.forename: Kara J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Donald A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: MacLeod
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014910:Wheelchairs