Potential Life Improvements After Spinal Cord Injury

Principal Investigator:  Curtis McMillen, PhD
Funder: American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists & Social Workers (AASCIP & SW)
Timeframe:  Funded 7/97-12/99
Affiliation: Center for Mental Health Services Research (CMHSR)

Project Staff: None
Participating Organizations: Barnes Christian Jewish (BJC) Hospital, St. Louis, MO
Project Contact:  Curtis McMillen
                             (314) 935-7517
                            cmcmille@gwbmail.wustl.edu

Project Update as of 02/19/2007:
Stage: Project completed
Baseline Findings: not described on this page
Conference Presentations: not described on this page
Forthcoming, In Press, or Published Papers: not described on this page
Reports: not described on this page
Key Findings: not described on this page
Practice or Policy Implications: not described on this page

Description:
    Most studies of persons with spinal cord injuries use a deficit approach, focusing on their mental health problems and presenting a dire picture of life after spinal cord injury. Anecdotally, however, people with spinal cord injuries seem to report that their lives change in a number of ways, both positive and negative, after spinal cord injury.  This project examined the unanticipated positive by-products experienced by  people as a consequence of their spinal cord injuries.  The study recruited people who have been followed for the first 18 months after their spinal cord injury and interviewed them regarding their positive by-products, coping behaviors, health, mental health, and well-being. We also interviewed someone who knows the person with spinal cord injury to get their impressions about the positive by-products the person with spinal cord injury has experienced. The study used the Perceived Benefit Scales, developed here at GWB with support from the Center for Mental Health Services Research. The goals of the project were to:

1. Assess the types of unanticpated positive by-products experienced by people with spinal cord.

2. Assess the concordance between self-report and collateral reports of positive by-products.

3. Assess the relationships between positive by-products and mental health and well-being.
 
 

For more information, please email the Principal Investigator.