1. Assessment of Knowledge of Recommended Health Management Behaviors
among Individuals with Chronic Spinal Cord Injury
Brad Trumpower, MS // Michelle Meade, PhD Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Results and Discussion
In general, we found that most of our sample were fairly well informed about their SCI and what was needed to manage their condition and prevent secondary health problems
There were individuals that felt some of the questions were not applicable to them because they had not experienced that secondary condition. Should we expect these individuals to have working knowledge of these conditions before they are affected by it?
Do assessments like this inspire individuals to seek out more knowledge? Can this not only be an assessment tool but also serve as a catalyst for learning?
Objective
To describe a new measure of knowledge associated with the management of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and prevention of secondary conditions
Background
Knowledge is the foundation of prevention, treatment, and recovery in healthcare.
If a patient does not know how to prevent or treat an injury, how can we expect them to?
The teaching process for individuals with SCI needs to be more than just a check mark in a box. It cannot be assumed that just because an individual was taught that they have comprehension of the subject.
SCI Knowledge Questionnaire
Michigan Spinal Cord Injury Knowledge Questionnaire (M-SCIKnow)
Adapted from scale by Theietjee et al (2011)
30 item, yielding one total Score, based on percentage of correct responses
7 subscales
Bladder Management
Bowel Management
Pressure Ulcer Management
Circulation & Blood Pressure
Autonomic Dysreflexia
Pulmonary / Respiration
General Health & Wellness
Future direction of research
Further refinement of scale, including item analysis
Use of scale to examine knowledge retention over time
Examine differences in knowledge retention between education provided in different ways, in various health care settings (i.e, inpatient setting vs. outpatient) and from healthcare providers as opposed to peers
What teaching methods works best?
When should the individual be taught?
Who should be teaching it? Nurses, physicians, peers, or someone else?
Further information
The M-SCIKnow is currently in development. To find out more information, send me an !
Literature cited
Thietje, R., Giese, R., Pouw, M, Kaphengst, C., Hosman, A., Kienast, B…. Hirschfeld, S. (2011). How does knowledge about spinal cord injury-related complications develop in subjects with spinal cord injury? A descriptive analysis in 214 patients. Spinal Cord 49, 43–48
Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted at University of Michigan. REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure, web-based application designed to support data capture for research studies, providing: 1) an intuitive interface for validated data entry; 2) audit trails for tracking data manipulation and export procedures; 3) automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to common statistical packages; and 4) procedures for importing data from external sources.
1Paul A. Harris, Robert Taylor, Robert Thielke, Jonathon Payne, Nathaniel Gonzalez, Jose G. Conde, Research electronic data capture (REDCap) - A metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support, J Biomed Inform Apr;42(2):
Acknowledgements
This project was supported through Grant # 2751 from the PVA Research Foundation.