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Wheelchair Skills Training for Children and Youth

NCT05564247 · Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2025-09-29

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Manual wheelchair (MWC) skills training is a critical component of wheelchair service provision. However, children and youth receive little to no training. MWC training effectively improves MWC skills, self-efficacy and satisfaction with participation (ie., facilitators of independent mobility and social participation) in adults. Independent mobility is especially critical for children, as it is associated with higher likelihood of employment and independent living in adulthood.

Despite evidence of an effective Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP) for adults, very little research has been conducted in the area of wheelchair mobility for children and youth. Two small single-group studies suggest that MWC skills training improves wheelchair skills and satisfaction with participation among individuals ages 4-17 years when training was conducted by professionals (eg. clinicians) and non-professionals (eg. peer-trainers). However, there are no controlled trials documenting the effect of MWC skills training among children and no evidence of best training approaches.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the WSTP for improving MWC skills, MWC confidence and participation outcomes among children and youth. A randomized controlled trial will establish efficacy of clinician led approaches to training, which may be implemented on a broader community-based scale in the future.

The results of this study will provide critical evidence for best practices for improving MWC mobility during childhood. Deliverables from this study will include MWC skills training tools for clinicians, that will be made freely available through an existing website. The results will support multi-site implementation trials and exploration of community-based approaches to wheelchair skills training for children and use.

Conditions

  • Wheelchairs

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP)

Participants will complete customized MWC skills training based on the evidence-based wheelchair skills program. Lessons plans will be created by the clinicians, children and parents participants based on goals, age, skills and interests, and used to customize the training.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Laval University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Krista Best, PhD · Universite Laval

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
4 Years
Max Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-06-01
Primary Completion
2025-07-24
Completion
2026-03-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05564247 on ClinicalTrials.gov