Upon nomination by the Dean of
School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Jordan; Dr. Nihad
Al-Masri (PhD, PT), Dr. Hassan Sarsak (PhD, OT) from the Department of
Occupational Therapy at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences was invited as a
guest speaker to the round table discussions of the Project “Enhancement of
Physiotherapy Programs through Networking in Conflict Affected Countries” which
aimed to develop a Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP) for Physical and
Occupational Therapy university students at entry level programs. The project
was organized by Al Hussein Society Jordan
Center for Training & Inclusion in partnership with the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) and hosted at Al Hussein Society on November
21-22, 2017. Dr. Sarsak presented his most recent research study titled:
“Developing of Wheelchair Training Program (WTP) for Occupational Therapy and
Rehabilitation Students at the University of Jordan”. The presentation aimed to
launch an outreach campaign to raise local awareness about the availability of
the WTP for rehabilitation students and professionals from different
disciplines who have clinical and/or research interest in wheeled mobility and
seating interventions. Dr. Sarsak reported that the WTP was developed in
response to the need of more competent wheelchair professionals and to enhance
the quality of service delivery to wheelchair users in Jordan. The main
objectives of the WTP are: (1) to develop the minimum skills and fundamental
knowledge required by rehabilitation practitioners involved in wheelchair
service delivery, (2) for students, to develop knowledge and hands-on skill in
the process of identifying and providing wheeled mobility and seating
interventions to people of all ages and disability type, and (3) to get the WTP
integrated into the regular rehabilitation training programs and curricula such
as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and orthotics and prosthetics
undergraduate programs. Dr. Sarsak added that we are proud to be the first
among other universities in Jordan to integrate and provide innovative and more
comprehensive educational materials through the WTP to our occupational therapy
students as a part of other existing courses workload. At the end of the roundtable
discussions, one of the recommendations and outcomes was that the international
committee which included members from Jordan, Lebanon, the United States of
America, and Canada agreed on adopting the readily available WTP developed by
Dr. Sarsak as a good model that could be applied and integrated into
universities curricula in the near future in addition to the World Health
Organization (WHO) wheelchair service provision training packages, the
International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP) materials, and other
resources. Additionally, the committee members highlighted the importance of carrying
out an action plan includes conducting a follow-up scientific conference in
January, 2018 and more future campaigns to raise awareness of quality
wheelchair training that will be targeting both rehabilitation professionals
and students from different disciplines at clinical and educational
institutions and universities in Jordan. Finally, Dr. Sarsak shed light on the
inclusion of wheelchair users to better understand their needs and stated that “we hope
that the results of this project and the WTP study at the University of Jordan will
improve the clinical practice for future wheeled mobility and seating
interventions and have a positive significant impact on practitioners, suppliers,
and wheelchair users in Jordan who are the real motivation behind all of this”.