Early Intervention to Promote Return to Work for People With Spinal Cord Injury
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: State Counselor-Coordinated Services, Center Facilitator-Coordinated Services.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Spinal Cord Injuries, Spinal Cord Diseases. Basic parameters: 18 years — 62 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
For many people with spinal cord injury, seeking employment after injury is an important goal. There are services available to help people with disabilities. However, the best ways to coordinate and deliver these services are not yet known. This project will compare two ways of coordinating and delivering services that are designed to help people with spinal cord injury obtain employment.
Detailed description
Employment is important for financial security, social connection, and life satisfaction. Unfortunately, rates of unemployment remain high among people with spinal cord injury (SCI). To help address this challenge, the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System (NNJSCIS) is conducting a single-site, randomized, controlled trial to compare two programs intended to increase rates of employment among people with SCI. The project will enroll 162 recently injured adults with SCI who are interested in becoming employed or returning to work and will compare different ways of delivering employment-related services in the first year after injury. Services will begin in inpatient rehabilitation and may include education, therapy, equipment provision, counseling, and other interventions. Information about employment status, earnings, community participation, and health will be collected through a combination of questionnaires and databases. Participants and service providers will also share their impressions of the programs via survey and focus groups. Analyses will examine the rate of participants employed at 1 year in each group, time to employment, earnings, community participation, and other aspects of well-being. Findings from this study will be used to determine which ways of delivering services are most effective in enabling employment by 1 year after injury, and to provide information to help other rehabilitation centers adopt effective programs.
Interventions
- Other State Counselor-Coordinated Services
A counselor affiliated with the New Jersey State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services coordinates services that consider the participant's condition, needs and goals. Services participants may receive include: * Education on programs designed to help people with spinal cord injury or brain injury pursue employment. * Advice and guidance from professional counselors who have special training in helping people with disabilities pursue employment. * Help completing applications for servi - Other Center Facilitator-Coordinated Services
A facilitator affiliated with Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation coordinates services that consider the participant's condition, needs and goals. Services participants may receive include: * Education on programs designed to help people with spinal cord injury or brain injury pursue employment. * Advice and guidance from professional counselors who have special training in helping people with disabilities pursue employment. * Help completing applications for services. * Assistance communicati
Primary outcome measures
- Employment Status (Percent Employed) [Time frame: 12-months post-enrollment]
Secondary outcome measures (10)
- Employment Efficiency (Median Time to Employment) [Time frame: 12-months post-enrollment]
- Income [Time frame: 12-months post-enrollment]
- Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- International SCI Quality of Life Basic Data Set [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART) [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life: Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities (SCI-QoL) [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life: Self-Esteem [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life: Independence [Time frame: Assessed at 1 month (baseline), 6, and 12 months post-enrollment.]
- Exit Survey [Time frame: 12-months post-enrollment]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- adults age 18 to 62
- a neurological impairment secondary to an SCI that occurred less than 12 months prior to enrollment
- receiving inpatient rehabilitation at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation (KIR)
- community living in the state of NJ after discharge from KIR
- have a goal to pursue competitive integrated employment or education/retraining leading to competitive integrated employment
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Double blind
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05506657 · L-1171-21A