Influences on Participation in Life After Spinal Cord Injury: Qualitative Inquiry Reveals Interaction of Context and Moderators.

Background: Greater understanding of the influences on participation in life after spinal cord injury (SCI) can inform rehabilitation theory and practice. Careful qualitative inquiry can reveal subjective meanings associated with the relevant experiences, strategies, and perceptions of those with lived experience of SCI. A search of literature, followed by a thematic synthesis of qualitative studies, was undertaken to bring together these insights in a meaningful way.

Longitudinal effects of time since injury and age at injury on outcomes of people with spinal cord injury in Queensland, Australia.

Study Design: Longitudinal cohort study.

Objectives: To investigate the longitudinal effects of time since injury and age at injury on outcomes of quality of life, physical function, secondary conditions and participation, in people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: Community resident people with spinal cord injury in Queensland, Australia.

Factors Which Facilitate or Impede Interpersonal Interactions and Relationships after Spinal Cord Injury: A Scoping Review with Suggestions for Rehabilitation.

Interpersonal interactions and relationships can influence an individual's perceptions of health and quality of life in the presence of disability. In the case of people with spinal cord injury (SCI), positive interpersonal interactions and relationships have been shown to contribute to resilience and adaptability. Understanding factors which facilitate or impede the development and maintenance of relationships after SCI may form the basis for proactive relationship support for people with SCI.

Environmental control systems - the experiences of people with spinal cord injury and the implications for prescribers.

Purpose: Environmental control systems (ECSs) can potentially influence comfort, safety, security and independence for people with severe impairment from spinal cord injury (SCI). This study, aimed at informing prescription practises, investigated ECS prescription and utilisation from the consumer perspective.

Methods: Qualitative inquiry, through 15 semi-structured interviews, explored the perspectives of people with high level SCI who use ECSs.

General practice visits by people with traumatic spinal cord injury: a Queensland longitudinal study.

People with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), although proportionally fewer in number, are known to be high users of primary health care services; however, details of their visits to GPs are unclear. This study presents information about GP utilisation patterns of 193 people with SCI over a 5-year period. Results demonstrate substantially greater GP service utilisation, particularly for young men with SCI, compared with their counterparts in the general population.

Investigating changes in quality of life and function along the lifespan for people with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To track changes in quality of life and function for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) along the lifespan.

Design: A wave panel design in which data were collected annually over 5 years across 6 strata that represented different periods since injury.

Setting: Telephone interviews with participants in their home environment.

Descriptions of community by people with spinal cord injuries: concepts to inform community integration and community rehabilitation.

Effective measurement and optimization of re-entry into the community after injury depends on a degree of understanding of how those injured persons actually perceive their community. In light of the limited research about foundational concepts regarding community integration after spinal cord injury, this study investigated how a large number of adults with spinal cord injury described their local communities. In the course of telephonic interviews, qualitative descriptions of community were obtained from 269 participants (1-56 years postinjury).

Evaluating new roles for the support workforce in community rehabilitation settings in Queensland.

Introduction: Alternative workforce models need to be explored to adequately meet the future health care needs of the Australian population. A new role for the support workforce, to optimise their contribution in community rehabilitation in Queensland--the advanced community rehabilitation assistant (ACRA)--was developed on the basis of service activity mapping and gap analysis.

Objectives: Evaluation of a trial of the new ACRA role at six pilot sites in Queensland.