Maria Luisa Toro Hernández

University CES | CES · Facultad de Medicina

Objective To explore global trends in manual wheelchair service provision knowledge across geographic, professional, and socioeconomic domains. Design A secondary analysis of a dataset from the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals’ Wheelchair Service Provision Basic Knowledge Test was conducted. Setting The dataset included test take...

Objective To assess the effectiveness of group wheelchair maintenance training and investigate participant characteristics associated with responsiveness to training. Design Randomized control trial with an immediate group and waitlist control group (WLCG) who received the intervention after a 6-month delay. Setting Four Spinal Cord Injury Model...

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted all segments of society, but it has posed particular challenges for the inclusion of persons with disabilities, those with chronic illness and older people regarding their participation in daily life. These groups often benefit from assistive technology (AT) and so it is imp...

Assistive products outcomes are needed globally to inform policy, practice, and drive investment. The International Society of Wheelchair Professionals developed a Minimum Uniform Dataset (MUD) for wheelchair services worldwide with the intent to gather data that is comparable globally. The MUD was developed with the participation of members from a...

Objetivo: Identificar los conceptos de capacidades en las leyes relacionadas con la salud laboral para las personas con discapacidad en Colombia entre el 2011 y 2019. Materiales y método: Cualitativo con un enfoque metodológico es el hermenéutico-comprensivo a través de un análisis de contenido. Resultados: El estudio evidenció algunos conceptos de...

Access to personal mobility is a human right and as such, it implies the provision of wheelchair services for those with mobility impairments that need one. Lack of appropriately trained personnel is a major contributor to the gap in access to wheelchairs. Assistive technology provision is one of the core competencies of occupational therapists. Th...

Background: Insufficient wheelchair training among rehabilitation professionals has been identified as an important factor that hinders access to appropriate wheelchair services. The aim of this study was to develop a toolkit to promote the integration of wheelchair education into academic curricula of rehabilitation programs. Methods: A partici...

Background: Disability is an evolving concept that results from the complex interaction between a person with an impairment and the context in which he/she lives. There is limited understanding on the types, access and use of community assets valuable for people with disabilities, and the role of contextual factors in Colombia. Our goal with this...

Background: Disability is an evolving concept that results from the complex interaction between a person with an impairment and the context in which he/she lives. There is limited understanding on the types, access and use of community assets valuable for people with disabilities, and the role of contextual factors in Colombia. Our goal with this w...

Background: Disability is an evolving concept that results from the complex interaction between a person with an impairment and the context in which he/she lives. There is limited understanding on the types, access and use of community assets valuable for people with disabilities, and the role of contextual factors in Colombia. Our goal with this w...

Access to appropriate and affordable assistive technology is a human right, and a public health and development priority. This article elaborates on these aspects and illustrates the various opportunities and barriers to achieving equitable access to assistive technology through 4 specific country snapshots. In Brazil, mobility aids are provided th...

Background: Disability is an evolving concept that results from the complex interaction between a person with an impairment and the context in which he/she lives. There is limited understanding on the types, access and use of community assets valuable for people with disabilities, and the role of contextual factors in Colombia. Our goal with this w...

Purpose: Over one billion people with disabilities (PWDs) and older adults with mobility impairment are currently in need of assistive technology devices (ATDs) and only 10% of those population have ordinarily access to them. The need for advancement in mobility-assistive technology is growing to address the gap in ATDs provision globally. The purp...

The development and implementation of assistive technology policy that meets the needs of citizens is dependent on accurate data collection and reporting of assistive technology use and unmet needs on a national level. This study reviews the methodology from instruments intended to capture national statistics on assistive technology use across eigh...

Background Disability is an evolving concept that results from the complex interaction between a person with an impairment and the context in which he/she lives. There is limited understanding on the types, access and use of community assets valuable for people with disabilities, and the role of contextual factors. Our goal with this work was to id...

Objectives: To develop an online version of the wheelchair maintenance training program (WMTP) and compare learning outcomes from the in-person and online programs using the wheelchair maintenance training questionnaire (WMT-Q), administered before and after the intervention. Design: Iterative development of an online version of the WMTP and imp...

Background: Despite representing 70 million people in Latin America, access to comprehensive rehabilitation and participation in the community remains a challenge for persons with disability (PWDs) in the region. Through enactment of the Disability Law, Colombia has made improvements to recognize and address some of the barriers for PWDs, includin...

Purpose: Access to an appropriate wheelchair is a human right. Only between 5–15% of people who need a wheelchair have access to one. One of the key barriers to access is the lack of appropriately trained rehabilitation professionals. The objective of this study was to evaluate basic manual wheelchair provision knowledge in final-year physiotherapy...

Purpose: An estimated 75 million people with disabilities need wheelchairs globally, of whom 5–15% have one. Access to an appropriate wheelchair requires rehabilitation professionals trained to provide wheelchair service. One aim of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP) is to promote and facilitate the integration of wheelcha...

Introduction People with mobility impairments often rely on wheelchairs as their primary means of mobility. Untrained wheelchair service providers may provide inappropriate wheelchairs and services which result in negative consequences in wheelchair users’ health, quality of life, safety, and social participation. This study aimed to evaluate the i...

Hybrid satisfaction survey–English/Spanish version. (PDF)

Spanish translation of the paper. (PDF)

Online and in-person training agenda and learning outcomes. (PDF)

Background An estimated 70 million people with disabilities need wheelchairs. To address this global crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed an eight-step wheelchair service provision model to ensure service quality regardless of resource setting. The International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP) aims to facilitate the integ...

Methods: The WMTP and WMT-Q were developed through an iterative process. Results: A convenience sample of clinicians (n = 17), manual wheelchair (n ∞ 5), power wheelchair users (n = 4) and caregivers (n = 4) provided feedback on the training programme. A convenience sample of clinicians (n = 38), manual wheelchair (n = 25), and power wheelchair...

Objectives: To investigate the frequency and types of wheelchair repairs and associated adverse consequences. Design: Convenience cross-sectional sample survey. Setting: Nine Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Centers. Participants: People with spinal cord injury who use a wheelchair for more than 40 hours/week. Intervention: Not applicable....

For people who have a mobility impairment, access to an appropriate wheelchair is an important step towards social inclusion and participation. The World Health Organization Guidelines for the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in Less Resourced Settings emphasize the eight critical steps for appropriate wheelchair services, which include: referral, a...

The aim of this study was to determine how selected environmental factors affect transfers and to compare our results to the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). BACKGOUND: Few data are available to support standards development related to transfers in the built environment. Participants were 120 wheeled mobility device...

In less resourced settings like Mexico, the majority of those who need a wheelchair (WC) do not have access to an appropriate one. When the need for appropriate WCs is not met, participation in community and society of those who need a WC as their primary means of mobility is hindered. A common problem is that production facilities are limited and...

In the charitable wheelchair (WC) provision model, international organizations collect funds to buy large quantities of WCs which they distribute in less resourced settings (Pearlman et al., 2006). Usually, the WCs are “one size fits all” depot style WCs and distributed with little clinical or technical input (Kim and Mulholland, 1999, WHO, 2011)....

Purpose: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises assistive technology such as wheelchairs (WCs) as a tool for social inclusion for this population. In less resourced settings, organisations lack information about effective models of WC service provision. The goal of this study was to investigate the lifes...

This study investigated the failures in 23 depot-style wheelchairs (WCs) used by children aged 3 to 14 over the course of 8-48 months and returned to a rehabilitation facility in Mexico during July 2011 for a replacement WC. One aim of this study was to understand the most common WC failures and develop strategies to reduce their occurrence. Both c...

The purpose of this study was to perform a literature review and seek expert opinion on the relevance and strength of the evidence concerning setup and transfer performance. Scientific literature databases were searched until June 2009 using 43 keywords resulting in 339 articles. These were internally reviewed and narrowed to 41 articles which were...