Self-Management Across the Care Continuum

Persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) face many challenges as they transition from inpatient care to outpatients and on into the community. With shorter lengths of stay and barriers to coordinating care between SCI specialists and community service providers, the development of self-management skills are an integral part in the effective community reintegration, proper healthcare utilization, management of secondary complications as well as independence and community participation. Based on the best available behaviour change theory, this initiative utilizes an online e-health Platform as a key component of a novel care service delivery model to enhance the development of effective self-management skills. This Platform will be provided to participants receiving care in the inpatient or outpatient programs at Parkwood Institute with the potential to continue its use in the community. Participants will complete surveys prior to, during and following use of the e-health solution. These will assess feasibility, usability, usage analytics and several patient-reported outcomes including self-management-related outcomes, healthcare utilization and prevalence of secondary complications. This platform is especially relevant to our current state of dealing with COVID-19 and the challenges it presents for clinicians and their patients in that it will provide an online solution during a time of physical isolation as well as providing access to tools and resources as people transition back to their home communities following specialized rehabilitation services.