Secondary health conditions and spinal cord injury: an uphill battle in the journey of care

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Conceptual framework based on Network Episode Model.

Table I.  Phase I Interview guide for open-ended questions with participants with SCI.

1	What have been your experiences with your health care in the community?
	Probes: What made your health care experience easier? Harder?
2	What have been your experiences with care related to prevention and/or management of secondary complications?
	Probes: What made it easier? Harder?
3	What has been the role of your informal social networks (friends/family) related to secondary complications?
4	Is there anything else you would like to mention that we have not had the opportunity to discuss?

Additional probes were used to facilitate discussion if needed such as “Can you tell me more about that? Can you speak more about the process? How so?”

Table II.  Phase II interview guide for open-ended questions with care providers, managers, policy-makers.

1	Would you be able to tell me a little bit about your professional role?
2	What are some important barriers in preventing and/or managing secondary health conditions?
3	What are some facilitators in preventing and/or managing secondary health conditions?
4	What are some strategies and/or solutions that might help assist the prevention and/or management of secondary health conditions in the community?

Additional probes were used to facilitate discussion if needed such as “Can you tell me more about that? Can you speak more about the process? How so?”

Table III.  Participants by stakeholder involvement.

Stakeholder representation	Number*
Persons with SCI	14
Traumatic SCI-motor vehicle related	4
Traumatic SCI-non motor vehicle related	7
Non-traumatic SCI	3
Care providers	10
Formal (physiatrist, GP/FP, PT, case managers)	9
Informal	1
Community advocacy organization representatives	6
Regional services coordinators	2
Senior administrators	4
System service delivery administrators	2
Public senior administrator and policy maker	1
Private senior administrator	1

*Numbers do not add to 28 because many participants represented multiple roles.

GP/FP: General practitioner/family practitioner, PT: Physical therapist, SCI: Spinal cord injury

Figure 2.  Thematic results in conceptualization of the journey of care related to secondary health conditions.

Figure 3.  The uphill journey in the prevention and management of secondary health conditions.

Figure 4.  Revised Network Episode Model based on research findings.