Wheelchair Maintenance Training Program

Effectiveness of a Remote Wheelchair Maintenance Training Program

The objective of this research study is to assess the effectiveness of a remote wheelchair maintenance training program, and to determine methods which may increase overall success of an online training program.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Remote Maintenance Training Program
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Wheelchair Maintenance Training

Detailed Description

Up to 100 individuals will be recruited for this research study. We will recruit individuals who use a wheelchair for the majority of their mobility (over 40 hours per week), and have a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). This study will be accessed entirely online and participation is expected to last approximately one year. Subjects will select to participate in one of three groups; one group that will receive maintenance training immediately with no follow up, one group that will receive the maintenance training immediately with 1 month and 6 month follow up, and one group that will be randomized to either receive the maintenance training immediately or after 6 months. The maintenance training program itself will take approximately 1-2 hours to complete.

After obtaining informed consent, participants in the first two groups will complete baseline questionnaires. They will then receive the maintenance training program.

Participants in the third group (a wait-list control group) will complete the baseline questionnaires and be contacted one month later to complete a wheelchair maintenance assessment questionnaire. They will then wait 5 months. After this period, participants will complete the baseline questionnaires a second time, and then receive the wheelchair maintenance training.

After completing the maintenance training, all groups will be contacted immediately post training to complete additional questionnaires to assess the effectiveness of the remote training program. Participants in the 2nd and 3rd group will be contacted 1 month and 6 months post-training to complete additional questionnaires. Participants may be compensated for their time.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 187
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15260
      • University of Pittsburgh

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Have a traumatic spinal cord injury
• Use a wheelchair as a primary means of mobility (>40 hours per week)

Exclusion Criteria:

• English is not a primary language
• Primary residence is not in the United States

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Immediate Training (no follow up); Individuals may decide to participate in the research study training program, but not in any follow up questionnaires. This group will have immediate access to the independent maintenance training materials. They will complete data collection measures embedded in the maintenance training program, including demographics, Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS), Moorong Self Efficacy Scale (MSES), Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS), Assistive Technology Module Questionnaire (ATM-Q), and the Wheelchair Maintenance Training Questionnaire (WMT-Q).	Behavioral: Wheelchair Maintenance Training; Wheelchair Maintenance Training Program: WMTP training consists of three parts. It starts with an overview of basic wheelchair maintenance items, continues with the second section discussing how to inspect the parts of a wheelchair and finishes with the third section discussing how to perform wheelchair maintenance on a wheelchair. Throughout the course, there are videos and pictures demonstrating the activities discussed in the training program. Participants will also be informed when a repair requires professional assistance and where such assistance may be found.
Experimental: Immediate Training (with follow up); Individuals may decide to participate in the research study, but do not want to be randomized. After consent is obtained, these individuals will be directed immediately to the baseline questionnaires (see above) before and after the wheelchair maintenance training. Participants may also be asked to complete a user satisfaction survey.	Behavioral: Wheelchair Maintenance Training; Wheelchair Maintenance Training Program: WMTP training consists of three parts. It starts with an overview of basic wheelchair maintenance items, continues with the second section discussing how to inspect the parts of a wheelchair and finishes with the third section discussing how to perform wheelchair maintenance on a wheelchair. Throughout the course, there are videos and pictures demonstrating the activities discussed in the training program. Participants will also be informed when a repair requires professional assistance and where such assistance may be found.
Experimental: Randomized Training; Individuals may decide to participate in the research study and agree to be randomized. These individuals will be immediately randomized into an immediate or a wait list control group. The immediate will receive the wheelchair maintenance training program after completing the baseline questionnaires. The wait list control group will wait approximately 6 months before receiving the independent maintenance training program.	Behavioral: Wheelchair Maintenance Training; Wheelchair Maintenance Training Program: WMTP training consists of three parts. It starts with an overview of basic wheelchair maintenance items, continues with the second section discussing how to inspect the parts of a wheelchair and finishes with the third section discussing how to perform wheelchair maintenance on a wheelchair. Throughout the course, there are videos and pictures demonstrating the activities discussed in the training program. Participants will also be informed when a repair requires professional assistance and where such assistance may be found.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Wheelchair Maintenance Training Questionnaire (WMT-Q)	The WMT-Q has three sub scales which measure of an individual's knowledge of maintenance (knowledge), their or their caregiver's ability to complete maintenance (capacity), and the frequency at which they or their caregiver perform it (performance). Each subscale ranges from 0-100 with larger numbers indicating greater proficiency.	This measure is collected at baseline, pre- training, during the training, as well as at the 1 month and 6 month follow ups.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Assistive Technology Module Questionnaire (ATM-Q)	This outcome measure collects information on the number of repairs an individual's wheelchair required as well as the incidence of subsequent consequences from the repair - stranded, injured, missed work or school, or missed a medical appointment.	This measure is collected at baseline, pre- training, and at the 6 month follow up.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
• Collaborators: Department of Health and Human Services
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lynn Worobey, PhD, DPT, University of Pittsburgh

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 15, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 10, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): August 10, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 7, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 7, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): April 9, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): November 12, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 8, 2024
• Last Verified: November 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Training; Maintenance; Participation; Wheelchair; Breakdown
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY18100047; 90SI5014-01-00 (Other Grant/Funding Number: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified data may be shared with other investigators.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Information will be shared throughout duration of collaboration.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: A request will be made to the Principal Investigator, who will consider the request. No identifiable information will be shared.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No