Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology
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Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol · May 2019
Meta AnalysisEffectiveness of the Wheelchair Skills Training Program: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
To conduct a systematic review synthesizing the evidence for the effectiveness of the Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP). ⋯ There is moderate quality evidence that the WSTP is a safe intervention that has a clinically meaningful effect on WST/WST-Q capacity scores and some other outcomes. Implications for rehabilitation A systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials on a total of 581 participants, using the Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP) as the intervention, found that the WSTP increased Wheelchair Skills Test (WST) and WST Questionnaire (WST-Q) total capacity scores by 21.2% relative to baseline. Subgroup analyses showed that training was more effective for new wheelchair users. The WSTP was found to have positive effects on some other outcomes and no serious adverse events were reported. The WSTP warrants cautious implementation in clinical and educational settings.