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SPINAL CORD INJURY:
RESEARCH PROJECTS

NEW! INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN RESEARCH?
Find out which of our current research studies are enrolling participants. Learn more about the studies to see if you might want to be involved.

NATIONAL SCI DATABASE
Our center is a Model System Follow-Up Site, contributing to a national SCI database. The collected data give a clearer understanding of spinal cord injury and its after effects. The information collected is studied in an effort to learn more about issues experienced during and following SCI rehabilitation. To learn more facts and figures from the SCI National Database visit the University of Alabama at Birmingham's website at www.spinalcord.uab.edu/

ONE-ON-ONE MENTORING/PEER SUPPORT
There have been relatively little objective explorations of the role of formal and informal peer support in improving life satisfaction and quality of life in individuals with SCI. In light of the necessity to discharge individuals more quickly from acute rehabilitation and the increasing outside pressures to streamline provision of services, demonstrating the benefits of peer support groups would serve at least a two-fold purpose. Not only would it reinforce the importance of peer support groups and the need to maintain or possibly expand funding, it may also be used as persuasive evidence to include peer support groups as part of the continuum of care for individuals with disability.

The objective of this study is to compare the quality of life, psychosocial health, and physical health of individuals with SCI who participate in a one-on-one mentoring/peer support program (Peer Role-Model Mentor (PRMM) Program at Silicon Valley Independent Living Center) versus those who receive no formalized peer support.

SCI-RELATED EDUCATION: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
Over the past several years, there has been increasing pressure from outside sources, not directly related to the provision of rehabilitation services, to decrease lengths of stay and thereby keep rehabilitation costs low. As rehabilitation professionals understand, not only does the individual need to learn how to perform activities of daily living, but there are a number of preventive health behaviors that must be performed consistently to forestall the development of secondary medical conditions. Most rehabilitation units, including SCVMC, provide this information in the form of group education classes to efficiently reach all individuals. One-on-one instruction is provided when practical skill or the ability to direct care is required. What is the effectiveness, however, of these classes for individuals who may or may not be ready to process this information in the immediate weeks following injury?

The objectives of this study are: 1) to assess the changes in SCI-specific knowledge of individuals with SCI following discharge from the rehabilitation unit; and 2) to provide a multi-faceted community-based education program to resolve gaps in important SCI-specific knowledge and track its impact on quality of life, physical and psychosocial variables.

EFFECT OF PERSONAL ATTENDANT TURNOVER
There has been little research concerning the positive and/or negative impact of personal attendant care on individuals with SCI and their ability to live successfully in the community. Clearly, a lack of attendant care would have significant consequences for the individual with SCI; the individual's health would be at risk and their ability to fulfill social and employment-related activities would be curtailed. However, the impact of high turnover, or unstable attendant services on the individual with SCI is less clear.

The objectives of this study are four-fold: 1) to assess the correlation between "unstable" or high turnover of personal attendant services on measures of quality of life, ability to interact in the community, and psychological and physical complications in individuals with SCI; 2) to determine whether high turnover in personal attendant services are correlated with poorer psychosocial and physical status; 3) to determine whether injuries at higher levels are correlated with higher turnover in personal attendant services; and 4) to determine the most prevalent reasons of dissatisfaction and satisfaction with personal care attendants from the perspective of both the individual with SCI and the personal care attendant.

EXERCISE AND SCI
The benefits of a regular exercise program in individuals who do not have a disability have been recognized for at least several decades. There is no reason to believe that a regular exercise program for an individual with SCI will not produce the same benefits as those found in ambulatory persons. Potential benefits that could specifically improve quality of life for individuals with SCI include reduction of secondary impairments such as loss of cardiorespiratory and muscular function, improvements in the ability to perform activities of daily living, and reduction of the increased impairments that come with aging with an SCI. There is an additional benefit that an exercise program may confer on individuals with SCI; by participating in such a program with other persons with SCI, informal peer support and social interactions will probably occur, potentially producing all of the benefits believed to be provided by peer support.

The objectives of this study are to: 1) investigate the benefits conferred on an individual with SCI when an accessible exercise facility is made available and utilized on a regular basis; and 2) investigate the correlation between increased quality of life and participation in activities and the increased peer support resulting from participating in a regular exercise program.

 

 

 

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