Engaging Social Connections to Promote Physical Activity in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To identify the individual and interpersonal needs for a just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) system that engages individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) and their friends/family to perform physical activity. <h3>Design</h3> User-needs survey. A participatory design process was utilized. Five 90-minute virtual focus group sessions were conducted using semi-structured interviews to assess user needs and identify key features to implement in a functional prototype. In later phases of this study, virtual prototypes will be tested. <h3>Setting</h3> Community. <h3>Participants</h3> 3 participant pairs (individuals with SCI and their family member) between the ages of 28-57 were randomly recruited and selected. <h3>Interventions</h3> Not applicable. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> Due to the qualitative nature of this study, our outcomes were themes that emerged from participants regarding needs for communication and motivation to increase physical activity levels. <h3>Results</h3> Results indicated themes that engage friends and family members of individuals with SCI including creating and tracking written goals, scheduling and planning group activities to reduce barriers, and providing prompts to improve communication about physical activity. Structured templates for message creation and public message boards for individuals with SCI and their friends/family are features that may address these themes by facilitating meaningful communication through suggestions based on shared activity levels or goals and connecting individuals with SCI to a supportive network of individuals with the overlapping goal of increasing physical activity. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Individuals with SCI must overcome significant physical, psychosocial and environmental barriers to participate in physical activity. Incorporating social engagement in modified JITAI systems may facilitate context-based and person-specific recommendations and motivation to potentially increase physical activity levels and promote sustained health and wellness in individuals with SCI. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> The authors declare no competing interests.