The Value in Mental Health Screening for Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury: What Patients Tell Us.
Colleen McMillan, Joseph Lee, Loretta M Hillier and 6 others
PMID 33543062WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with spinal cord injury found mental health screening acceptable and intended to follow recommendations, but described the process as incomplete.
They concealed substance use and felt the questions missed their personal strengths and resilience.
Key findings
01Screening identified chronic pain in 11 of 15 participants, plus single cases of depression, anxiety, and social isolation, and three cases of potential substance abuse.
02Twelve of 13 respondents rated the screening as very acceptable, and all but one intended to follow resulting treatment recommendations.
03Qualitative interviews revealed three themes: incomplete disclosure of experiences, concealment of important information like substance use, and failure to assess resiliency.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot study with only 15 participants, so the findings cannot be generalized. The screening tools used were not validated specifically for the spinal cord injury population. Not all participants completed every part of the study; the survey had 13 respondents and interviews had 10.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume standard mental health screening tools accurately capture the prevalence of substance use or depression in this population. Participants explicitly stated they concealed substance use, and the study notes these tools were not validated for spinal cord injury, meaning positive screens may underestimate true rates.