Ability of people with stroke to learn powered wheelchair skills: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES Our primary objective was to test the hypothesis that people with stroke can learn to use powered wheelchairs safely and effectively. Our secondary objective was to explore the influence of visuospatial neglect on the ability to learn powered wheelchair skills. DESIGN Prospective, uncontrolled pilot study using within-participant comparisons. SETTING Rehabilitation center. PARTICIPANTS Inpatients (N=10; 6 with visuospatial neglect), all with a primary diagnosis of stroke. INTERVENTIONS Participants received 5 wheelchair skills training sessions of up to 30 minutes each using the Wheelchair Skills Training Program (version 3.2). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Powered wheelchair skills were tested before and after training using the Wheelchair Skills Test, Power Mobility version 3.2 (WST-P). RESULTS The group's total mean WST-P scores improved from 25.5% of skills passed at baseline to 71.5% posttraining (P=.002). The participants with neglect improved their WST-P scores to the same extent as the participants without neglect, although their pretraining and posttraining scores were lower. The training and testing sessions were well tolerated by the participants, and there were no serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Many people with stroke, with or without visuospatial neglect, can learn to use powered wheelchairs safely and effectively with appropriate training.