Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) - Education Module

September 4, 2026 updated by: Gary Farkas, University of Miami

A Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Stakeholder-vetted Education Module to Mitigate Early Cardioendocrine Health Risks Occurring After Spinal Cord Injuries.

The purpose of this study is to find out if receiving education regarding increased risks of cardiometabolic disease helps subjects understand these risks and how these risks participants' health.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
250

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • District of Columbia
      • Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States, 20010
        • Active, not recruiting
        • MedStar National Rehabilitation Network
    • Florida
      • Miami, Florida, United States, 33136
        • Active, not recruiting
        • University of Miami - Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
    • Texas
      • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75246
        • Recruiting
        • Baylor Scott & White Institute for Research
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Simon Driver, PhD
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Men and Women with SCI/D aged 18-70 years.
  2. Neurologically complete and incomplete American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment scale (AIS) A-D spinal cord levels C5 and below.
  3. Enrolled no later than 4 months following discharge from initial rehabilitation from SCI.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Pregnancy determined by urine testing in sexually active females.
  2. Cognitive impairment that compromises the legitimacy of consent.
  3. Grade 3-4 pressure injury at the time of study entry.
  4. Prisoners

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Cardio-Metabolic Disease (CMD) Consumer Guide Group
Hard paper copy of as well as an electronic copy of the guide will be provided to subjects and study staff will provide a general review of the contents of the guide with subjects during their education sessions. Participants will be in this group for 6 months.
Behavioral: PVA Consumer Guide

Subject's will receive education on the PVA consumer guide 3 times over the course of the study.

Each session will be approximately 10-15 minutes and will consist of a general review of the nutrition, exercise, and general healthy living guidelines content included.
Active Comparator: WebMD Group
Subjects will be introduced to WebMD and its contents. A brief document will be provided that includes site summary and website. Study staff will provide a very brief overview of the site. Participants will be in this group for 6 months.
Behavioral: WebMD
Subject's will receive education on how to navigate the WebMD site and find information on health, exercise and nutrition 3 times over the course of the study. Each session will be approximately 10-15 minutes and will consist of a general review of the health and wellness content available on the website. At study completion, subjects in this group will be provided with the PVA guide and a brief orientation of the nutrition, exercise, and general healthy living guidelines content included in the guide.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Effectiveness of education modules as determined in the Knowledge Test
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
Effectiveness as determined by the number of correct answers on the Knowledge Test where the higher number of correct answers indicates increased knowledge of the information provided.
baseline, up to 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Body Weight as determined by kilograms (kg)
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
Body weight will be measured in kilograms
baseline, up to 6 months
Change in Body composition as determined by Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA)
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
Body composition will be measured in grams using DXA
baseline, up to 6 months
Change in Body composition as determined by Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) in Percentage
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
Body composition will be expressed as a percentage of body fat (BF) using DXA
baseline, up to 6 months
Change in sugar metabolism as determined by Insulin resistance (IR)
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
Sugar metabolism will be determined as IR calculated using the formula (fasting serum glucose*fasting serum insulin/22.5). Lower values indicate a higher degree of insulin sensitivity. Fasting values are obtained from blood samples
baseline, up to 6 months
Change in Quality of Life (QoL) as measured by Quality Index Spinal Cord Injury Version III
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
A composite score will be obtained to assess change in QoL using a six-point Likert scale. Scores for satisfaction section range from "1- very satisfied" to "6-very dissatisfied". On the important section scoring ranges from "1-very important" to "6- very unimportant"
baseline, up to 6 months
Change in Quality of Life (QoL) Using the International Spinal Cord Injury Basic Data Set
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months
QoL values will be determined using a scale ranging from 0 (completely dissatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied).
baseline, up to 6 months
Change in heart disease risk as determined by cholesterol
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months.
Risk of heart disease will be measured from a blood sample in mg/dL
baseline, up to 6 months.
Change in heart disease risk as determined by blood pressure (BP)
Time Frame: baseline, up to 6 months.
BP will be measured in mmHg using an arm cuff
baseline, up to 6 months.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Miami

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Gary Farkas, PhD, University of Miami

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
March 5, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
August 16, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 16, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 22, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 4, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 20230202

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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