Risk Instrument for Secondary Conditions

Purpose and Anticipated Benefits

This study analyzed an Internet assessment and feedback tool’s effectiveness in determining secondary condition risk based on individual responses to a knowledge and behavioral questionnaire, which can be used to possibly ward off more health complications.

When

The online assessment procedure was developed in 2000; data collection began April 2001 and continued until September 2004.

Who

Jennifer Rowland and Glen White, both with the Research and Training Center on Independent Living, along with Lisa Williams, Missouri Model Spinal Cord Injury System, surveyed 71 people with newly-diagnosed spinal cord injuries.

Method

Study participants treated at one of five Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems Centers were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition in which they received computerized feedback and one-on-one consultations based on their online questionnaire answers or to a control condition in which they didn’t receive any feedback until the study's completion. One year after the initial assessment, the online questionnaire was re-administered to all participants as a post-test. Researchers telephoned participants to administer phone surveys probing secondary condition development three times between the pre- and post-test assessments.

Results

Results indicated significant differences among race groups and between complete and incomplete injury status for pressure sore occurrence.

Products

Rowland, J., & White, G. (2005, September 4). Risk Instrument for Secondary Conditions in people with SCIAmerican Association of Spinal Cord Injury

Psychologists and Social Workers Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV. [Poster]

Rowland, J.L., White, G.W., & Wyatt, D.A. (in press). Risk Instrument for Secondary Conditions: Analyzing an online assessment tool for secondary condition prevention in people with spinal cord injuries. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings.