The reliability of the Drivkraft Wheelchair Manoeuvre Test

Abstract

Background and purpose: Manual wheelchair users have a potential risk for musculoskeletal overuse
injuries. To prevent these overuse injuries wheelchair users need to be taught how to propel a
wheelchair efficiently. To test how a person is manoeuvring the wheelchair the Drivkraft Wheelchair
Manoeuvre Test (DWMT) was developed. The aim of this study is to determine the reliability
components of the DWMT.

Method: The inter- intra-rater and test-retest reliability were determined for the four tasks of the
DWMT. Three raters scored the test for the inter- and intra-rater reliability and one rater scored both
the test and the retest in a different group of participants. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and
kappa values were calculated.

Results: 30 participants were included for the inter- and intra-rater reliability and 18 were included for
the test-retest reliability. The inter-rater reliability showed ICC values that were good to excellent and
the kappa was found to be strong to almost perfect. The intra-rater reliability values are excellent for
all raters. Test-retest reliability showed perfect kappa values and excellent ICC values.

Conclusion: The DWMT has good to excellent inter- intra-rater and test-retest reliability when
sufficient sample sizes are used. Further research can be conducted using the DWMT.

Keywords: Motor skills; Psychometrics; Rehabilitation; Reliability; Reproducibility of results; Wheelchairs;

Presentations

NoSCoS 2019 i Köpenhamn – Posterpresentation 
The Wheelchair School – A description of the Drivkraft method and its evidence
Michael Zonneveld, Åke Norsten, Kerstin Wahman