Relationship of occupational therapy inpatient rehabilitation interventions and patient characteristics to outcomes following spinal cord injury: The SCIRehab Project

AbstractBackground/objectiveDescribe associations of occupational therapy (OT) interventions delivered during inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation and patient characteristics with outcomes at the time of discharge and 1-year post-injury.MethodsOccupational therapists at six inpatient rehabilitation centers documented detailed information about treatment provided. Least squares regression modeling was used to predict outcomes at discharge and 1-year injury anniversary for a 75% subset; models were validated with the remaining 25%. Functional outcomes for injury subgroups (motor complete low tetraplegia and motor complete paraplegia) also were examined.ResultsOT treatment variables explain a small amount of variation in Functional Independence Measure (FIM) outcomes for the full sample and significantly more in two functionally homogeneous subgroups. For patients with motor complete paraplegia, more time spent in clothing management and hygiene related to toileting was a strong predictor of hig...