SCI Psychosocial Process Volume 20, Number 1

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

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, or obtaining, a service dog. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Pat Dorsett, PhD 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 more negative consequences of psychosocial adjustment to SCI than is necessarily experienced by individuals themselves. This has implications for effective clinical interventions. This practice issues paper aims to present current research finding which debunk seemingly persistent myths surrounding adjustment to SCI, and to consider strategies for bridging the research/practice divide. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 cord injury secondary to a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a protective helmet. Neuropsychological testing revealed moderate-to-severe deficits in the area of delayed memory, with particular problems in acquisition and maintenance of new information. The individual demonstrated difficulty in making functional rehabilitation progress related to visual and memory decrements. At the conclusion of inpatient rehabilitation, he demonstrated the capacity to make functional rehabilitation gains through the use of consistent verbal cues and reinforcement. Read the rest of this entry »

President’s Message

Terrie Price, PhD, ABPP

Greetings!
The Annual Conference approaches and I encourage members to register before July 1 for the best registration rate. The Program Committee has organized an excellent venue of speakers and will be providing additional information regarding the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, area amenities, activities, and events. We are also fortunate to have the band, The Incredible Shrinking Heads (featuring many of our members) performing on Tuesday night. We anticipate an excellent conference experience. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 and, despite the Senate passing it again this spring, the President vetoed it for a second time on June 20, infuriating scientists and disability groups. Senator Hillary Clinton and others immediately accused the President of placing his moral beliefs ahead of science and the needs of millions with disabilities who may benefit from the research. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 70 years old, a veteran, and a retired high school guidance counselor. His wife is an 85-year-old retired biologist. It is a second marriage for both and they have had a loving relationship for over 30 years. They each have adult children from previous marriages who live in other parts of the country. Until the accident, they were enjoying their retirement, spending their savings on travel. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 can create less than optimal outcomes for individuals as they move through the continuum of care. Pioneering research of these issues suggested that 25% to 57% of persons with acute SCI might have a concomitant traumatic brain injury (Roth et al., 1989; Scheuman & Morris, 1982), and some cognitive impairment may be present in 67% of individuals in SCI rehabilitation (Wilmot, Cope, Hall, & Acker, 1985). Most studies indicate that cognitive impairment affects between 40% and 50% of persons with SCI (Davidoff, Roth & Richards, 1992). Consequently, individuals who sustain co-morbid TBI or have pre-morbid cognitive deficits can have poorer outcomes, especially during inpatient rehabilitation. Read the rest of this entry »

Person Profile: Laura Cushman

Lauri Yablick, PhD

Laura Cushman could be one of AASCIPSW’s best kept secrets. Commonly described as quiet, shy, and introverted, Cushman is all about stealth. Soft-spoken is probably a better descriptor than quiet. And shy or introverted? Suspend judgment. Cushman attended her first AASCIPSW conference in 1990, and responded to the realization that she didn’t know anyone by volunteering to serve on the Membership Committee the following year. She then became involved with a group that was the prototype for the Clinical Practice Committee and that also spawned the Professional Issues Committee. She participated in writing our first Standards of Care, and, ever the introvert, was elected to the Board of Directors. She has served two consecutive terms twice, so she has been on the Board for 12 of her 17 years as a member of the association. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 (a fine American, a.k.a. good New Orleanian), and the highlight of my afternoon the mail (mostly junk—but, hey, we take what we can get). I’ve also spent a lot of time trying to avoid the morass of talk shows that flood the tube all day long. Once in a while, however, one of those infernal talk shows or something on the back pages of the paper catches my attention—and lately, it seems that many of those have to do with topics that pit a person’s civil rights against quality of life. Read the rest of this entry »