SCI Health Choices

Thank you for taking part in this survey. While a great deal of research about spinal cord injury (SCI) has been undertaken in the last few decades, much of it has focused on recovery of what are deemed to be key functions for independence by able-bodied people, such as walking mobility, without sufficient understanding of which particular lost functions impact most on quality of life after SCI. Depending on the level and type of injury to the spinal cord, a range of different functions may be affected from grasping objects with hand, sitting balance, mobility to bladder and bowel control and other key body functions, as well as common problems such as pain. To date very little research has been conducted to ascertain the functions that are thought to be most important from the perspective of the person with a spinal cord injury. Your feedback will be very important in helping us to understand better the functional priorities of people with spinal cord injury. The findings can help future research to focus upon the areas that are important to people with a spinal cord injury in order to improve the quality of life after a spinal cord injury.

This survey consists of three sections. In the first section, you will be presented four scenarios which are possible results of a "hypothetical" treatment that you are hypothetically involved in. Your answers in this section will be used to identify the relative importance of various functions. This is to identify the relative importance of four key functions of Arm movement/hand grasp, Walking, Bladder/Bowel, Sexual Function and the very common problem of Neuropathic (Nerve-related) Pain. You will be required to choose the "best" outcome and the "worst" outcome from among the four outcomes. There are a total of 20 choice sets. The reason why there are 20 choice sets in all is to try and capture the various combinations of the possible outcomes. 

The second section consists of eight brief validated psychometric questionnaires assessing areas such as quality of life (QoL), fatigue and pain. Finally, the third section asks a few questions relating to your background as well as determining your level of injury. Please select the answers that best reflect your situation.