Archive for the 'Quality of Life' Category

Feature Article: Interest in Service Dogs by Veterans with Spinal Cord Injuries: A Pilot Study

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Tiffanie A. Brashear, PA, and Diana H. Rintala, PhD
Abstract
Background/Objective: Service dogs are trained to help individuals with disabilities maximize function and enhance social participation. This pilot study obtained an estimate of the proportion of veterans with spinal cord injuries (SCI) receiving care from a Veterans Affairs Medical Center who were interested in information about, […]

Feature Article: Shifting Sands: Changing the Way We Think About Practice

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Pat Dorsett, MD and Patricia Fronek, BSW
Abstract
    Social workers and psychologists can play an important role within the wider interdisciplinary team by ensuring contemporary research findings are translated into daily practice. Despite shifts in knowledge found in contemporary literature, new understandings are not always translated into daily practice. Health care professionals tend to anticipate […]

Feature Article: Rehabilitation Intervention for an Individual with Spinal Cord/Brain Injury and Visual Impairment

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

John W. DenBoer, MA and Sigmund Hough, PhD, ABPP
Abstract
     This case study explored the challenge of using verbal feedback with an individual following simultaneous with spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury (SCI/TBI) with visual impairment. A man in his late 20’s received a severe open head injury and T5 ASIA B ischemic spinal […]

News Briefs: Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Bill Again; Robotic Leg Program at Sister Kenny Institute; Panel Faults Outdated US Policies for Problems for Many Persons with Disabilities

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Irmo Marini, PhD
Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Bill Again
    For the second time in two years, the U.S. Senate passed S5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would lift the ban on federally funded stem cell research. President Bush vetoed the bill in 2006 after it had passed both Houses of Congress by wide margins […]

Practice Resources: Newly Injured Spinal Cord Patient: A Case Study

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Robin Dannevik, MSW
    Mr. Chavez* fell down a flight of stairs in his home last year. The accident left him quadriplegic. He spent the next several months in rehabilitation centers and nursing homes before coming to the Spinal Cord Injury unit at the Edward Hines Veterans Affairs Medical Center for further acute rehabilitation. Mr. Chavez is […]

Commentary: Assessment and Identification of Concomitant Cognitive Impairments in Persons with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Considerations for Rehabilitation Professionals

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Ann Marie Warren, PhD, and Timothy R. Elliott, PhD
     Individuals who incur a spinal cord injury (SCI) face immediate, profound, and often permanent life changes. The enormity of the SCI, however, often dominates the clinical picture, and when concomitant impairments such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) occur they are often overlooked. This […]

Consumer Issues: It’s Those Shades of Grey That’ll Get You Every Time

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Deborah Blanchard, ACSW, LCSW
    I recently retired from my job with the State of Louisiana. At about the same time, I also fell and wound up with both a tibia plateau and a femur fracture and have been basically home-bound. The highlight of my morning has been the newspaper and the Ellen Degeneres Show […]

Events Calendar

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Calendar of Events, Continuing Education, Conferences and Links
With SCI Psychosocial Process now in an electronic format it will be much easier for you to click onto links for more information about upcoming events. One caveat however, is that the twice yearly journal makes it more difficult to present information in a timely fashion.
If you […]

Literature Review & Critique: Abstract and Commentary on a Study Regarding the Role of Personal Behavior on the Development of Pressure Ulcers in SCI

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Marylou Guihan, PhD
Clark, F. A., Jackson, J. M., Scott, M. D., Carlson, M. E., Atkins, M. S., Uhles-Tanaka, D., Rubayi, S. (2006) Daily-living contexts of adults with spinal cord injury: Data-based models of how pressure ulcers develop in daily-living contexts of adults with spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 87(11):1516–1525.
Abstract
     Clark […]

Assistive Technology: The Various Roles of Assistive Technology in My Lifetime

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Kimberly A. Walters

I am a T-5 complete spinal cord injury (SCI) survivor since 1993. Assistive technology (AT), paradoxically, paralyzed me for life, then it saved my life, and then it allowed me to regain my independence.
Prior to my automobile accident, I, of course, could not foresee the various roles AT would play in my life. […]