Selected Abstracts from the 2006 SCI Conference

#107
Predicting Depression Among Family Caregivers
Timothy R. Elliott, Ph.D, ABPP, Laura E. Dreer, PhD, Richard Shewchuk, PhD, Jack W. Berry, PhD, and Patricia Rivera, PhD
Objectives:

• Participants will understand the necessity for applying diagnostic criteria in assessing depression among family caregivers.
• Participants will learn the observed percentage of family caregivers who are at risk for major depressive disorder.
• Participants will learn that caregivers at risk for a depressive episode may be providing to a person with a more severe injury and may possess a dysfunctional problem-solving style.

Clinical Issues: Emergency Preparedness: How Proactive are Persons with Mobility Impairments?

Eva Miller

Natural disasters have been relatively common across America since its inception, yet after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and in 2005, Hurricane Katrina, Americans have begun to realize that none of us are exempt from the possibility of having to face catastrophic disasters. Persons with disabilities may be faced with particularly extreme circumstances during such disasters; however, according to the National Organization on Disability [NOD] (2005), only 47% of people with disabilities report having household evacuation plans pertaining to emergency disasters and only 57% report having emergency evacuation plans in the workplace. During times of disaster, individuals with mobility impairments such as spinal cord injuries (SCIs) present with even greater challenges than do persons with less severe types of disabilities. These include the profound complications of evacuation from buildings with more than one story and, in escaping calamity, having to leave behind medical supplies and adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs and accessible vehicles. In addition, persons with SCI and other mobility impairments may rely on personal care attendants who are often unavailable at the time of the life-threatening disaster, and they may well not be available for assistance in the critical period following the incident as well. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 et al. (2006) used in-depth interviewing and participant observation to examine the influences of daily routine and activity, personal choices, motivating influences, lifestyle challenges, and prevention techniques and strategies on the development of pressure ulcers in adults with spinal cord injury (SCI). They found that ulcers are most likely to develop “when a person with a relatively high-risk background profile is exposed to an equilibrium-disrupting change event that culminates in a specific pressure ulcer risk episode”. Their results highlight the complexity and individualization that characterizes the emergence of pressure ulcers. They recommend that prevention efforts focus on the unique constellation of circumstances that comprise a person’s everyday life. Read the rest of this entry »

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

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. As a young woman I took it for granted––as most people do––that I could just walk out the door, get in my automobile, and drive away without even thinking about it. I also never thought of an automobile as being an AT device. Over the years, because of our changing lifestyles and society’s infrastructure, the automobile has gone from being a luxury item to a necessity for most of us. The automobile gives us the freedom to come and go as we wish, to ride instead of walk or to rely on public transportation, and for some of us, it has become a part of our self-identity. Read the rest of this entry »

Spinal Cord Disorders: Uncertainty in Illness for Persons with Multiple Sclerosis

Jeff Canar, PhD

     The importance of understanding uncertainty in illness as a predictor of psychological discomfort, an awareness of the unpredictability of certain illnesses, and the relationship between that uncertainty and emotional toll of coping with the illness is an important framework when working with individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. There is a considerable degree of unpredictability associated with MS to which persons need to respond. Something as simple as planning for a vacation can be difficult because the person does not know how they will feel when it actually comes time to take their vacation. Additionally, because MS tends to affect persons in early to middle adulthood, adapting to uncertainty and unpredictability comes at a time when those stricken are likely to be in the prime of their life, placing further burden on their psychological health (McReynolds, Koch and Rumrill, 1999). Read the rest of this entry »

Clinically Based Research: Focus on Caregivers for Those with Spinal Cord Injuries & Dysfunction

Briana Bowen, MSW Student, Ellen Cloyed, LISW

Boschen, K. (2005). The impact of being a support provider to a person living in the community with a spinal cord injury. Rehabilitation Psychology, 50(4), 397-407.

     Quantitative data was collected from a convenience sample of 100 self-selected spinal cord injury patients and their support providers (informal caregivers) in an interview-completed questionnaire, while qualitative data was obtained from a subsample of focus groups, including 46 participants that were self-selected. A comparison analysis indicated that the focus group participants were demographically comparable to the group of the 100 questionnaire respondents. Read the rest of this entry »

Pediatric SCI: Girls Just Gotta’ Have Fun: Creating a Unique Program for Girls with Spinal Cord Injury

Sara J. Klaas, MSW, C-ASWCM and Kally Schneider, BA

    Sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating event and it is particularly tragic for a child or an adolescent who has barely had an opportunity to experience life. Of the approximately 10,000 individuals who sustain spinal cord injury each year in the United States, three to five percent occur in individuals younger than fifteen years of age and approximately twenty percent occur in those younger than twenty years of age (Nobunaga, Go, & Karunas, 1999). Read the rest of this entry »

Events Calendar

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 learn of any additional conferences or have additional organizations of interest to the membership please contact me at jjk1009@hotmail.com, 203-631-4800. Thank you. Jayne Kleinman Read the rest of this entry »

Organizations and Links

The following are brief descriptions of a variety of useful organizations, including website information. If there are other organizations you would like to bring to the attention of AASCIPSW membership, please inform Jayne Kleinman, jjk1009@hotmail.com 203-631-4800. Read the rest of this entry »

News Clips & Announcements: News From Mather Lifeways; Carter Institute to Host Conference

     Mather LifeWays, based in Evanston, Illinois, and founded in 1941 by entrepreneur and humanitarian Alonzo Mather, is committed to providing a continuum of living and care; making neighborhoods better places for older adults to live, work, learn, contribute, and play; and identifying, implementing, and sharing best practices for wellness, workforce issues, memory care support, and empowering caregivers. For more information, please visit www.matherlifeways.com.
Read the rest of this entry »