Evaluation of the Quality of Current COVID-19 Resources Developed for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an urgent need for information on dealing with it among people with spinal cord injuries (SCI). Organizations provided resources, but many of them were generic. In some cases, the information was provided by dubious sources, contradictory, or not assessed for usability with individuals with SCI. This study reviewed COVID-19 web-based resources for individuals with SCI and evaluated their quality. Methods: A scoping review for COVID-19-related web-based resources for individuals with SCI was performed by first identifying SCI-relevant organizations and, subsequently, targeted website searching using a systematic search strategy in May 2021. The included resources were categorized based on their content and format (e.g., video, infographic, text). The resources were evaluated using tools that had been previously validated. Results: Our search identified 71 SCI organizations and 10,538 potential resources. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 112 resources were included and categorized based on their content into ten main domains: prevention, caregivers, exercise, mental health, stories, telehealth, specific organs/systems, report of evidence, SCI network COVID-19 response and COVID-19 communication rights toolkit. The average score for the quality of the text, infographic, and video resources are 9.72/28 (Range:3-24), 37.75/44 (Range:35-41), and 59.14/80 (Range: 49-75), respectively. Conclusion: Website resources mainly focused on preventing COVID-19. Only five of them addressed telehealth during COVID-19 for individuals with SCI. The results of this study will inform the development of SCI-oriented toolkits for future pandemics.