Manual wheelchair-skills courses (“bootcamps”) for wheelchair service providers: an observational study on learners’ satisfaction and perceived effectiveness

Our primary objective was to assess wheelchair service providers’ opinions on manual wheelchair-skills courses (“bootcamps”). Our secondary objective was to test the hypothesis that these courses enhance the learners’ self-reported capacity and confidence.
This was an observational study that took place in rehabilitation and conference centers on 407 wheelchair service providers each of whom took part in one of 26 practical workshops on manual wheelchair skills at least 1 day in duration. Post-course, all participants completed a Course Evaluation Form with ordinal (1–5), categorical, and free-response questions. A subset of 103 participants also completed a modified Wheelchair Skills Test Questionnaire (WST-Q) of “capacity” and “confidence”.
The percentages of participants who answered 5 (“extremely so”) to the questions “useful?”, “relevant?”, “well-tolerated?”, “understandable?”, and “enjoyable?” were 94.1, 90.4, 92.6, 95.6, and 97.3%. The median for the Overall Satisfaction Score (OSS) (1–5) of the 26 bootcamps was 4.96. Most participants (87.1%) considered the course “just right” in duration, and (100%) stated that they would recommend the Course to others. There were numerous qualitative comments about the course content, as well as what participants found most and least useful. Over half of the WST-Q respondents reported improvements in capacity and confidence in 26 (90.0%) and 25 (86.2%) of individual skills.
Although there is room for improvement, wheelchair service providers were generally positive about in-person courses, and the courses enhance wheelchair-skills capacity and confidence.

Wheelchair service providers are generally positive about in-person practical courses.
Such courses enhance the perceived wheelchair-skills capacity and confidence of participants.

Wheelchair service providers are generally positive about in-person practical courses.
Such courses enhance the perceived wheelchair-skills capacity and confidence of participants.

本研究的首要目标为评估轮椅服务从业者对手动轮椅技能培训课程（manual wheelchair-skills courses，俗称“训练营（bootcamps）”）的评价；次要目标为验证该类课程可提升学习者自我报告的能力与自信心这一假说。
本研究为观察性研究，在康复中心与会议中心开展，共纳入407名轮椅服务从业者，所有受试者均参与了为期至少1天的26场手动轮椅技能实操工作坊中的任意一场。课程结束后，所有受试者均填写了课程评估表（Course Evaluation Form），该量表包含1-5分序数评分题、分类题及开放式问答题。其中103名受试者还完成了改良版轮椅技能测试问卷（Wheelchair Skills Test Questionnaire, WST-Q），该问卷针对“能力”与“自信心”两个维度进行评估。
针对“课程是否有用”“是否贴合需求”“接受度良好”“易于理解”“是否有趣”这5个问题，选择5分（“完全符合”）的受试者占比分别为94.1%、90.4%、92.6%、95.6%与97.3%。26场训练营的总体满意度评分（Overall Satisfaction Score, OSS，1-5分）的中位数为4.96。绝大多数受试者（87.1%）认为课程时长恰到好处，且所有受试者（100%）均表示会向他人推荐该课程。受试者还留下了大量关于课程内容的质性反馈，以及他们认为最具价值与最无价值的环节。在完成WST-Q的受试者中，超过半数报告在26项（90.0%）技能维度的能力与25项（86.2%）技能维度的自信心上均有所提升。
尽管仍有改进空间，但轮椅服务从业者对线下实操课程整体持积极态度，且该类课程确实可提升受试者的轮椅技能能力与自信心。

轮椅服务从业者对线下实操课程整体持积极态度。
此类课程可提升受试者感知到的轮椅技能能力与自信心。

轮椅服务从业者对线下实操课程整体持积极态度。
此类课程可提升受试者感知到的轮椅技能能力与自信心。