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Abstract
Objective
Following spinal cord injury (SCI), certified therapeutic recreation specialists (CTRSs) work with patients during rehabilitation to re-create leisure lifestyles. Although there is much literature available to describe the benefits of recreation, little has been written about the process of inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation therapeutic recreation (TR) programs or the effectiveness of such programs. To delineate how TR time is used during inpatient rehabilitation for SCI.
Methods
Six rehabilitation centers enrolled 600 patients with traumatic SCI for an observational study. CTRSs documented time spent on each of a set of specific TR activities during each patient encounter. Patterns of time use are described, for all patients and by neurologic category. Ordinary least-squares stepwise regression models are used to identify patient and injury characteristics predictive of total treatment time (overall and average per week) and time spent in TR activities.
Results
Ninety-four percent of patients enrolled in the SCIRehab study participated in TR. Patients received a mean total of 17.5 hours of TR; significant differences were seen in the amount of time spent in each activity among and within neurologic groups. The majority (76%) of patients participated in at least one structured therapeutic outing. Patient and injury characteristics explained little of the variation in time spent within activities.
Conclusion
The large amount of variability seen in TR treatment time within and among injury group categories, which is not explained well by patient and injury characteristics, sets the stage for future analyses to associate treatments with outcomes.
Acknowledgements
The contents of this paper were developed under grants from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education, NIDRR grant nos. H133A060103 and H133N060005 to Craig Hospital, H133N060028 to National Rehabilitation Hospital, H133N060009 to Shepherd Center, and H133N060027 to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the grantees and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Department of Education.