Practices and views of occupational therapists in Nova Scotia regarding wheelchair-skills training for clients and their caregivers: an online survey.

Purpose: To determine the extent to which Occupational Therapists (OTs) in Nova Scotia (NS) conduct wheelchair skills training, the nature of training and the OTs' perceptions on training. Materials and methods: Anonymous online survey. Results: We received 110 responses from OTs living in NS and involved in direct patient care, 96 (93%) of whom reported helping clients obtain manual wheelchairs. Of the OTs who responded to the question "… do you typically provide wheelchair-skills training…? ", 40 (43.5%) answered " Yes, usually " for clients and 40 (46.0%) for caregivers. The median duration of training sessions for clients and caregivers was 30 and 20 min; the median number of sessions was 2 and 1. Regarding the importance of training, 65 (73.9%) OTs answered " Very important " and 22 (25%) " Somewhat important " for clients and 55 (64.0%) answered " Very important " and 29 (33.7%) " Somewhat important " for caregivers. About one-third of OTs considered themselves adequately prepared for the trainer role. A variety of barriers and facilitators to training were identified. Trainers were significantly more likely than non-trainers to consider wheelchair skills training as important ( p  = .0003 for clients and p  = .0039 for caregivers) and to consider themselves adequately prepared for the trainer role ( p  = .002 for clients and .003 for caregivers). Conclusions: Only a minority of NS OTs usually provide wheelchair-skills training for clients or their caregivers and the training provided is minimal, despite a majority who consider such training to be important. Only about one-third of OTs feel prepared for the training role.Implications for rehabilitationOnly a minority of Occupational Therapists (OTs) in Nova Scotia, Canada usually provide wheelchair-skills training for clients or their caregivers.The training that is provided is minimal.A majority of OTs consider such training to be important.Only about one-third of OTs feel prepared for the training role.