The Process of Adjustment among Caregivers of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury: A Qualitative Study
Abstract
This mixed-methods study aims to understand the experiences of veteran and civilian caregivers of individuals with SCI by collecting qualitative and quantitative data from 48 caregiver-care recipient dyads across four rehabilitation hospitals who together serve a diverse patient population. During our first year of funding, we have made significant progress on attaining project goals, including securing all relevant institutional approvals, conducting a review of the relevant literature and existing programs and services for caregivers, and enrolling 44 participants intothe study. We have received an additional 17 referrals from interested participants and are in the process of implementing additional recruitment strategies with those who have been hard to reach. We have also initiated data analyses and have found caregivers to be sharing a variety of unmet needs related to their emotional, physical, and social quality of life (QOL), and have found these needs to relate to caregiver burden. Finally, we have made progress in terms of developing recommendations for intervention components as we held our first annual Advisory Board meeting and are preparing an abstract highlighting caregiver QOL and social support for two 2016 scientific meetings. Taken together we are confident that data from this study will help highlight unmet needs of caregivers and support the development of relevant and effective points of intervention for veterans and civilians across various sociodemographic groupings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- AD1000378
Entities
People
- Erin H Kelly
- Lawrence C. Vogel
Organizations
- Marquette University