Study aims to help people with spinal cord injuries
Post-doctoral fellow hopes U of R study will lead to better mental health services
A spinal cord injury has been called a living bereavement — so named because often it signals the loss of a lifestyle an individual has held dear.
Depression and anxiety often follow such injuries, but help isn’t always available. A Canadian study has shown only 43 per cent of people with spinal cord injuries have their emotional counselling needs met.
Swati Mehta, a post-doctoral research fellow in the psychology department at the University of Regina, hopes to change that.
She has started a research project that provides a guided, internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy course. The aim is to assist people with spinal cord injuries cope with thoughts and behaviours related to the injury and manage their emotional wellbeing.
Following a spinal cord injury, many people experience physical changes, which can cause a variety of unique mental health issues, Mehta said.
“One might be body image because they’re in a wheelchair and they feel different,” she said. “Having people stare at them, they might feel stigmatized. Others might be having bowel or bladder incontinence, so they fear having an accident when they’re in public. A lot of thoughts can come in and cause anxiety and depression and affect how they interact with people in their everyday lives.”
Mehta completed her PhD in the faculty of health and rehabilitation services at Western University in London, Ont., and master’s degree in counselling psychology. She was attracted to the University of Regina by the work of Heather Hadjistavropoulos, founder of the U of R’s Online Therapy Unit.
“(Hadjistavropoulos) has looked at other populations, such as postpartum depression, fibromyalgia and cardiac patients,” Mehta said. “What I’ve come here to do is to try and adapt the program she offers for people with spinal cord injuries.”
The eight-week course includes vignettes illustrating situations people with spinal cord injuries might encounter.
“There’s stories from other persons with spinal cord injuries listed there that they can follow to understand and kind of normalize some of the experiences they are having,” Mehta said. “It’s also to challenge some of the thoughts that they might have and everyday experiences they have that might be different from other people in their life that are also going through anxiety and depression.”
Besides the online therapy, she touches base with participants weekly — by phone or email.
“I guide them through the process, help them with the lessons and check to see how their symptoms are doing and how their week went,” Mehta said. “It’s not completely self-directed.”
She’s looking for people with spinal cord injuries to participate in the study. To sign up, go to onlinetherapyuser.ca/sci.
Spouses or caregivers can also take part to give their perspective on how their lives have changed.
Mehta estimates it takes about 40 minutes to complete the initial form and between 60 and 90 minutes to do the weekly lessons. At the end of the course, participants do a 40-minute post-treatment assessment. Additionally, there is a three-month followup.
When the study is completed, the data will be made anonymous.
“It’s not like you can ever connect the actual data to the participants,” Mehta said. “We’re hoping to publish the data or have workshops to help other clinicians understand how we can help people with spinal cord injury.”
Ultimately, she hopes to help participants improve their quality of life.
Mehta is working collaboratively with the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, which developed the course materials for use in online therapy.
For her work in improving access to mental health services for people with spinal cord injuries, Mehta received the Alice Wilson Award from the Royal Society of Canada.
The award is given annually to three women with outstanding academic qualifications at the post-doctoral level.
“In the past, it was hard for women to get into research or get into university to get a bachelor’s or a master’s degree,” Mehta said. “Dr. Wilson struggled a lot at the time so it’s an accomplishment that she got that recognition and it’s just an honour to be in that same field.”