Grant: Operating Grant: Knowledge to Action

The wheelchair provides mobility options for more than 250,000 Canadians. Less than optimal wheelchair use can be associated with barriers to participation in important activities, mobility dependence, or accidents. The inclusion of standardized wheelchair skills testing and training has been identified as one strategy for improving wheelchair use, yet a gap between best practice and current practice remains. Our aim is to design and implement a knowledge translation intervention specific to a standardized wheelchair skills program, called WheelKnowIt. This study investigates the potential for using WheelKnowIt among experienced clinicians at a rehabilitation centre in Vancouver, BC. The WheelKnowIt includes an interactive educational workshop, clinical champions, educational outreach, and use of a website. We will measure feasibility outcomes related to process, resources and the intervention, as well as establish preliminary estimates of the effectiveness of the intervention. Once we confirm that WheelKnowIt is feasible and effectively improves the usage of standardized wheelchair skills testing and training, broader studies can be conducted including a national randomized controlled trial. WheelKnowIt offers promise for improving the use of standardized outcome measures and interventions for wheelchair skills testing and training in a rehabilitation setting, which may improve wheelchair-related patient outcomes. WheelKnowIt may also serve as a framework for implementing other important rehabilitation outcomes and interventions for other populations, such as spinal cord injury or stroke.