‘Bringing them back on the right track’: Perceptions of medical staff on the rehabilitation of individuals with violently acquired spinal cord injuries

Abstract

Purpose. To explore the perceptions of medical staff on the rehabilitation of spinal cord injured individuals, who became disabled from street violence.

Method. A total of 16 medical staff members from two rehabilitation hospitals were interviewed, using a semi-structured interview. The interview recorded demographic information about the staff and probed at differences in clinical goals and practices with violently and non-violently injured individuals with spinal cord injuries. In all, 34 interviews were conducted from staff. Responses were tabulated and interpreted using a grounded theory approach.

Results. Staff set goals of ‘increasing independence’ that are informed by their professional backgrounds. The ‘differences’ in persons with violently acquired disabilities were noted, both in terms of needs, resources and attitudes. Depending on the professional and racial background of the staff, there was an indication of different degrees of tolerance toward patients' non-compliance with rehabilitation goals. Staff members are largely welcoming of the perceived impact of peer mentoring as it increases the cultural competence of the hospital in dealing with individuals who were violently disabled.

Conclusions. Findings, although exploratory, emphasise the dynamics of perception development, through the tensions in the goal of independent functioning and perceived differences in persons who became disabled from street violence.

Keywords:

• Violence
• spinal cord injuries
• staff perceptions

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the support of the rehabilitation teams from the two participating hospitals. The first author would like to acknowledge his long time affiliation with the University of Illinois, first as an assistant professor (2003–2006) and later as a visiting research professor (2006-to date). We also acknowledge the opportunity to discuss an earlier version of this paper during a session of the 2003 Society for Disability Studies Annual Meeting. This research was supported in part by a grant from the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Award number no. H324M990085. The opinions expressed here are ours and not necessarily those of OSEP.