Exploring Home-Based Rehabilitation in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Patients: A Qualitative Study

Rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary field of study and is dependent upon the culture of the place of study, and has a significant role in the patient’s well-being and their return to work and normal life. The sequence of a phenomenon rehabilitation care and socio-cultural context in which returning veterans with spinal cord injury, traumatic health and prepare the patient to return to normal life and this community have an important role to explore various aspects of rehabilitation. Several studies have investigated spinal cord injuries that take place at home with the aim of providing more effective services. Therefore, this study aimed to explore patients with spinal cord injuries, for whom traumatic home-based rehabilitation was performed.
A qualitative study was conducted during year 2014 in Tehran's hospitals. Participants included 12 victims of traffic accidents with injuries of the spine (spinal cord injury), two family caregivers, five nurses, four doctors, two physiotherapists, and two occupational therapists in inpatient wards and outpatient trauma centers that explained the process of care based rehabilitation at home for patients with spinal cord injury. Firstly, purposive sampling was performed and was continued by theoretical sampling on the basis of codes and classes. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed by the conventional content analysis approach.
Data analyzes led to the emergence of four main categories including home-based rehabilitation process of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury, consisting of four main sub-categories: facilitator of recovery, limitations, seek support and challenging return to society.
Support of spinal cord injury patients at home with a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists and clergy is necessary.