Wheelchair service provision education for healthcare professional students, healthcare personnel and educators across low- to high-resourced settings: a scoping review

Burrola-Mendez, Yohali, Kamalakannan, Sureshkumar, Rushton, Paula W., Bouziane, Selsabil-A., Giesbrecht, Ed, Kirby, R. Lee, Gowran, Rosemary J., Rusaw, David F., Tasiemski, Tomasz, Goldberg, Mary, Tofani, Marco, Pedersen, Jessica P. and Pearlman, Jon (2023) Wheelchair service provision education for healthcare professional students, healthcare personnel and educators across low- to high-resourced settings: a scoping review. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 18 (1). pp. 67-88. ISSN 1748-3107

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Abstract

Purpose
This review aimed to collate and summarize available research literature about wheelchair service provision education available to healthcare professional students, healthcare personnel and educators across low- to high-resourced settings.

Methods
The Joanna Briggs Institute methodological steps for scoping reviews were followed. Included studies were mainly sourced from Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Academic Search Complete and ProQuest. Independent title, abstract and full-text screening with defined inclusion and exclusion criteria was performed. All screening and extraction were performed independently by two authors. A thematic approach was used to synthesize results. Data extracted from included studies were charted according to a template that we created. The study quality was also appraised.

Results
A total of 25 articles were included (11, 36% from high-income settings) with 12 (48%) observational studies and 13 (52%) experimental studies. The literature addressed three main topics: (1) assessing wheelchair service provision knowledge, (2) implementing training interventions using in-person, online and/or hybrid learning approaches and (3) describing current wheelchair service provision education globally. The most frequently reported training programs used were the Wheelchair Skills Program and the World Health Organization Wheelchair Service Training Package – Basic Level.

Conclusion
Limited information has been published about the integration of wheelchair content into the curricula of professional rehabilitation programs. Efforts to build international partnerships, improve the quality and currency of training programs and build resources that can assist educators in the integration of wheelchair-related content into professional rehabilitation programs should be prioritized.

Implications for Rehabilitation
This is the first review that examined and synthesized the current state of wheelchair service provision education for rehabilitation students and personnel across low- to high-income countries.

Findings from this review indicate that there is limited information about the integration of wheelchair-related content into professional rehabilitation programs.

Efforts to build international partnerships, standardize wheelchair service provision content and evaluation and integrate training into professional rehabilitation programs worldwide should be prioritized.

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