Recruiting

SCI & U

Sponsor:

University of Toronto

Code:

NCT06677905

Conditions

Spinal Cord Injury

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

web-based spinal cord injury self-management program

Peer support

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the online program and web-based platform for delivery of self-management services to people with spinal cord injury (SCI) called "SCI \& U" can support transitions from hospital to the community after injury. Specifically, can providing support from trained peer health coaches via the SCI \& U web-based self-management program increase health self-management among those within three years of a spinal cord injury with a planned discharge to or living in the community with SCI for less than two years in the province of British Columbia, Canada or the state of Connecticut, United States.

The main question it aims to answer is:

• Does the SCI \& U web-based self-management program lower emotional distress and increase self-efficacy Researchers will compare those who participate in SCI \& U with those who receive usual peer support after 6 months to see if the SCI \& U program improves self-management knowledge, skills and self-efficacy and decreases secondary complications

Participants will:

  • engage in up to 14 online sessions, each of which lasts about an hour with a peer health coach trained in motivational interviewing, goal setting and brief action planning. During sessions, they may also review resources and create follow up plans on the online platform on health management topics
  • complete an interviewer administered survey at baseline, 6 and 12 months

Conditions

Spinal Cord Injury

Study ID

NCT06677905

Start date

Feb 21, 2025

Status verified date

Aug, 2025

Completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jun 30, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 years and older, with a planned discharge to or living in community with SCI for no more than three years since injury and with the ability to speak and understand English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • not a member of or willing to become a member of SCI BC or SCIACT

Study Design

Enrollment

76 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: SCI&U self-management program

Following recruitment intervention participants will be scheduled for an orientation session to become better acquainted with the health coaching program and the associated platform's features. Participants will then be partnered with their peer health coach. In the first videoconference session, participants will identify priority issues related to their health and transitioning to home. They will work through goal-setting, problem solving and create action plans for behaviour change. Online coaching sessions are expected to cover a health-related topic and a self-management skill topic and will have an expected duration of 45 to 60 minutes. The selection of topics and the order will be determined jointly.

active comparator: Wait list control

Control group will be offered the existing peer support program from the United Spinal Connecticut Chapter or SCI BC

Interventions

web-based spinal cord injury self-management program

Peer health coaches will be recruited from the United Spinal Connecticut Chapter and SCI BC. They will be at least 5 years post-SCI and will be certified in brief action planning and in Mental Health First Aid.

Online coaching sessions are expected to cover a health-related topic (eg. bladder, bowel, skin, pain, healthy eating, physical activity or stress, anxiety and depression etc) and a self-management skill topic (eg.action planning, goal setting, problem-solving, mood management, navigating the health care system, communicating with health care providers). To ensure we meet the unique needs of participants, the coach and participant will determine jointly how many sessions to spend on a topic. In addition, coaches will be able to link relevant information and resources contained in the resource library to each session.

Peer support

Existing peer support program from the United Spinal Connecticut Chapter or SCI BC

Primary outcome measure

  • Emotional Distress Subscale in Health Education Impact Questionnaire [ Time Frame: From baseline assessment to 6 months followup ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Susan Jaglal, PhD

416-946-8641susan.jaglal@utoronto.ca

Diana Pernigotti

203-284-2910dianasciu@gmail.com

Locations

Spinal Cord Injury Association of Connecticut

Recruiting

Milford, Connecticut, United States, 06460

Contacts

Diana Pernigotti

203-284-2910dianasciu@gmail.com

Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto

Recruiting

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5J 2L4

Contacts

Susan Jaglal, PhD

416-946-8641susan.jaglal@utoronto.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of Toronto

Last update posted

Sep 5, 2025

Last verified

Aug, 2025

Keywords

  • peer support
  • self-management
  • spinal cord injury
  • newly injured
  • web-based program

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-07. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Toronto on 2025-09-05. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.