NCT01644292

Enhancing Participation In the Community by Improving Wheelchair Skills: Phase 2

Enhancing Participation In the Community by Improving Wheelchair Skills (EPIC WheelS): Phase 2

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 2 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Manitoba · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this project is to conduct a pilot study of the EPIC WheelS wheelchair skills home training program for older adults in preparation for a third phase feasibility study.

Detailed description

Many older adults rely on a manual wheelchair for community mobility but are not provided with skills for independent and effective use. Suboptimal or disuse of the wheelchair results in substantial social costs such as reduced engagement in meaningful activity, social isolation, and higher caregiver burden. This represents a poor use of financial resources, including the cost of wheelchair acquisition and demands for attendant care. Access to skills training is constrained by the cost and limited availability of skilled therapists, the demands of patient and clinician travel, and lack of programs designed specifically for the needs of older adults. Enhancing Participation In the Community by improving Wheelchair Skills (EPIC WheelS) is an individualized home-training program that optimizes learning for older adults while limiting the demands on expert clinician trainers. It is delivered using a portable computer tablet that allows interactive learning, customized updating, and communication with an expert trainer. A monitored, home program that is effective and efficient for older adults has potential application for other target groups as well, particularly those with limited access to rehabilitation services in rural and remote locations.

Conditions

• Older Adult Manual Wheelchair Users

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	EPIC WheelS	EPIC WheelS is a user-centred program for wheelchair skills training that combines two structured 1-hour sessions with an expert trainer and four weeks of self-directed practice and training in the natural (home) environment.

Timeline

• Start date: 2012-08-01
• Primary completion: 2013-03-01
• Completion: 2013-03-01
• First posted: 2012-07-19
• Last updated: 2023-11-30
• Results posted: 2014-03-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada