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Active living lifestyles for manual wheelchair users (ALLWheel) program to enhance leisure time physical activity: a
Zhiyang Shi1,2, Shane N Sweet1,2, François Routhier3,4
1Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Study Design:
A 3-city pilot randomized controlled trial.
Objectives:
To evaluate the efficacy of an Active Living Lifestyles for manual Wheelchair users (ALLWheel) program for increasing participants' leisure time physical activity, motivation, self-efficacy, and satisfaction of basic psychological needs from baseline to post-program (10 weeks) and at follow-up (3 months post-program).
Settings:
Rehabilitation centers and community.
Methods:
Forty adult community-dwelling manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury were allocated to an intervention (n = 20) or control group (n = 20). The intervention group received a 10-week ALLWheel program. Leisure time physical activity, motivation, self-efficacy, and satisfaction of basic psychological needs were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. Group differences were examined.
Results:
The intervention and the control groups had a significant difference in total leisure time physical activity post-intervention, with a small effect size (Relative Treatment Effect = 0.38, p < 0.05). This difference was not significant at follow-up. The two groups had a significant difference in moderate-heavy leisure time physical activity post-intervention, with a small effect size (Relative Treatment Effect = 0.36, p < 0.05). This difference was not significant at follow-up. No significant group differences were found for the psychological outcomes post-intervention or at follow-up.
Conclusions:
The ALLWheel program had a small effect size for increasing adult wheelchair users' total leisure time physical activity levels post-intervention, particularly for moderate-to-heavy intensity. However, this increase was not maintained at the 3-month follow-up. Additional refinement and testing of the ALLWheel program is warranted before moving to a larger-scale randomized control trial with active control groups.
