Influences on Participation in Life After Spinal Cord Injury: Qualitative Inquiry Reveals Interaction of Context and Moderators.

This is a qualitative synthesis, so it reports themes and perceptions, not effects of treatments. The search was limited to peer-reviewed studies from highly developed Western countries, so findings may not transfer to other cultures or funding systems. The included articles were weighted toward the early months and years after injury, so long-term participation experiences are less represented. Articles focused mainly on employment, recreation and leisure, or interpersonal relationships were excluded, so those participation domains are not comprehensively covered. The 352 participants were counted across articles, and some articles may report the same study, so this is not a count of unique people. The authors did not perform formal quality appraisal; they used publication in three main databases as a proxy for baseline quality. The inclusion process was iterative, and the authors acknowledge possible bias in deciding which lines of enquiry to include or reject.

Open access publication was funded by the Metro South Health Study, Education and Research Trust Account. The authors declared that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Do not read these themes as evidence that any rehabilitation programme improves participation. The review synthesises what people with SCI said about influences on participation; it did not test an intervention or measure outcomes.