Resolving Grief After Spinal Cord Injury

Resolving Grief and Moving On After Spinal Cord Injury

The purpose of this study is to examine the usefulness of the Grief Recovery Method in assisting persons with spinal cord injuries to achieve as complete a recovery as possible, thereby allowing for fuller participation in life.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Spinal Cord Injury
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The Grief Recovery Method

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 8
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Manitoba
    • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3A 1M4
      • Recruiting
      • WRHA Health Sciences Centre Rehabilitation Hospital
      • Principal Investigator: Karen Ethans, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

* Persons with a spinal cord injury who are willing to participate in the program.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Unable or unwilling to participate.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Lifestyle counselling using the Grief Recovery Method; Volunteers will participate in a series of weekly and twice-weekly sessions with a counselor who has obtained special training in the Grief Recovery Method.

Behavioral: The Grief Recovery Method; The Grief Recovery Method is a structured process designed to help people with spinal cord injuries examine their knowledge of their injury, their emotional reaction to their injury, and their ability to acknowledge their grief over the injury in order to learn techniques to resolve the grief in order to achieve a more complete recovery. Participants will attend a total of 18 sessions, some one-on-one, and some in a group setting. The Grief Recovery Handbook, handouts, DVD (digital video disc) presentations and questionnaires will be used. Targeted activities to decrease isolation and assist volunteers to identify goals for recovery will be utilized.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Impact of Event Scale	A self-administered questionnaire with 22 questions designed to measure the subjective response to a specific traumatic event (for this study, the event is the spinal cord injury).	At Sessions 1 and 18. (Baseline and month 4)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Modified Grief Inventory	A self-reported 2-part questionnaire that asks the volunteer to circle responses to questions about past behavior and present feelings about their spinal cord injury.	At Sessions 1and 18 (baseline and month 4).
The Coping with Health Injuries and Problems	A 32-question self-reported scale that measures coping with illness.	At sessions 1 and 18 (Baseline and month 4)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Dr. Karen Ethans

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): December 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Anticipated): June 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 26, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 30, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): October 8, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 18, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 16, 2019
• Last Verified: April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Trauma, Nervous System; Spinal Cord Diseases; Wounds and Injuries; Spinal Cord Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: GR2013