TEAM WheelsTraining to Enhance Adaptation and Management for Wheelchair Users (TEAMWheels)

The treatment group will receive the TEAM Wheels program over a 4-week period. Session 1 will be virtually delivered via MS Teams teleconference. The peer trainer is an experienced MWC user trained to deliver the TEAM Wheels program. At least 2 peers will be trained at each site to offer multiple trainer attributes; a male and female, one being at least 50 years old. Participants will pre-select a peer trainer from a biosketch to optimize training effect (e.g., preference for age, sex factors); comparability in age has been identified as preferential among older adults and influential to self-efficacy. After Session 1, participants engage in 4 weeks of eHealth home program training. They are instructed to practice for 75-150 minutes/week. Consistent with motor learning principles, we encourage training in 15-30 minute blocks 1-2 times/day, 3-5 days/week. The peer trainer arranges the remaining two virtual teleconference sessions with the participant, about 1 week apart.

The control group receives no specific intervention over the course of the 4-week period. This reflects "usual practice"/typical experience of a MWC user in their provincial context. Control group participants placed on the wait-list will receive the TEAM Wheels program following completion of the study (i.e. after post-treatment data collection). The site Research Coordinator/Assistant will make telephone or email contact with control group participants at the end of weeks 2 and 4 during the study period to deter attrition/drop-out. When contact is made at week 4, the Research Coordinator will schedule an appointment for post-treatment data collection (week 7). Any formal MWC training received during the wait-list period will be documented for potential post-hoc analysis as a confounding variable; research evidence and investigators' clinical experience confirm that in all 3 provinces formal training is not provided once MWC users are discharged from hospital.

A 1-month, peer-led, eHealth training program (TEAM Wheels) for individuals transitioning to manual wheelchair use to improve satisfaction with activity participation and related rehabilitation outcomes.