Relationship of therapeutic recreation inpatient rehabilitation interventions and patient characteristics to outcomes following spinal cord injury: the SCIRehab project.

Objective: To investigate associations of therapeutic recreation (TR) interventions during inpatient rehabilitation for patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) with functional, participation, and quality of life outcomes.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, data were obtained from systematic recording of TR services by certified TR specialists, chart review, and patient interview.

Results: TR interventions, including exposure to community settings and leisure activities, add to the variance explained (in addition to the strong predictors of injury classification, admission motor Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and other patient characteristics) in outcomes at the time of rehabilitation discharge (FIM, discharge to home) and at the 1-year injury anniversary (FIM, working or being in school, residing at home, and societal participation as measured by the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART)).