Early Intervention to Promote Return to Work for People With Spinal Cord Injury

Kessler Foundation

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Spinal Cord Injuries; Spinal Cord Diseases

Treatments: Other: Center Facilitator-Coordinated Services; Other: State Counselor-Coordinated Services

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05506657

L-1171-21A

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 162 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 62 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion 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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

162 participants in 2 patient groups

State Counselor-Coordinated Services

Other group

Description:

In this program, services are coordinated by a counselor employed by the New Jersey State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (NJDVRS), a state-based agency that assists people with disabilities who are interested in pursuing employment. While the participant is in inpatient rehabilitation or soon after their discharge, a member of the research team will assist them in completing the necessary documentation to apply for services from this agency. Services for which they are eligible will be provided directly through NJDVRS.

Treatment:

Other: State Counselor-Coordinated Services

Center Facilitator-Coordinated Services

Other group

Description:

In this program, services are coordinated by a facilitator who is employed by Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and works cooperatively with NJDVRS. The facilitator will begin working with the participant during inpatient rehabilitation, or soon after discharge, depending on when they enroll in the study. Some services for which they are eligible will be provided through NJDVRS and others will be provided to them by the facilitator.

Treatment:

Other: Center Facilitator-Coordinated Services