The factors for social participation in people with spinal cord injury

I-Hsuan Tsai, The University of Texas School of Public Health

Abstract

To improve participation is the ultimate goal of rehabilitation programs for people with spinal cord injuries (SCI). In addition to modern medical care, we think people with disabilities can take advantage of the improved technology in media to overcome environmental barriers and increase their level of participation. Therefore, we conducted these studies to reveal the association of participation with environmental barriers and media. Previously, few studies had a clear conclusion on this topic, so we addressed this study with different methodology. The most distinct difference is that we conduct the generalized linear mixed effect model for multivariate analysis to handle the longitudinal and nested nature of the National Spinal Cord Injury Database. Our study results support the idea that the level of social participation is subjected to the environmental factors. Also, frequently using the Internet and wider accessibility to the computer are associated with a higher level of social participation. Further studies may focus on establishing more sensitive and objective measurements for environmental barriers and studying the effect of the feature of media-carrying devices on social participation in people with SCI.

Subject Area

Public Health Education|Public health

Recommended Citation

Tsai, I-Hsuan, "The factors for social participation in people with spinal cord injury" (2014). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI3689792.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI3689792

Share

COinS