Consequences of a spinal cord injury (SCI) entail much more than damage to the spinal cord. The lives of people with SCI, along with those around them, experience profound long-lasting changes in nearly every life domain. SCI is a physical (biological) injury that is inextricably combined with various psychological and social consequences. The objective of this review is to present psychosocial challenges following SCI through the biopsychosocial model, beginning with acknowledgement of the larger societal effects of ableism and stigma before addressing the many unique psychosocial aspects of living with SCI. Included in this review are qualitative studies and systematic reviews on current psychosocial outcomes and consequences. This paper attempts to structure this information by dividing it into the following sections: relationships and family; changes in finances and employment; issues related to the person’s living situation; community reintegration; factors associated with mood and coping (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance use, and PTSD); self-harm behaviors (ranging from nonadherence to suicide); effects of traumatic brain injury; considerations regarding sexual health; aging with SCI; and concludes with a brief discussion about post-traumatic growth. Cultivating an understanding of the unique and interrelated psychosocial consequences of people living with SCI may help mitigate the psychosocial aftermath and serve as a reminder to providers to maintain a person-centered approach to care.

To compare the distribution of error types across subgroups of primary progressive aphasia and poststroke aphasia in different vascular locations. We analyzed naming errors in 49 individuals with acute left hemisphere ischemic stroke and 55 individuals with three variants of primary progressive aphasia. Location of atrophy or ischemic stroke was characterized using MRI. We found that distribution of error types was very similar across all subgroups, irrespective of the site or etiology of the lesion. The only significant difference across groups was the percentage of circumlocutions (F(7, 96) = 3.02, p = .005). Circumlocution errors were highest among logopenic variant PPA (24%) and semantic variant PPA (24%). Semantic coordinate errors were common in all groups, probably because they can arise from disruption of different cognitive processes underlying naming and, therefore, from different locations of brain damage. Semantic errors are common among all types of primary progressive aphasia and poststroke aphasia, and the type of error depends in part on the location of damage.

The coronavirus pandemic enforced social restrictions with abrupt impacts on mental health and changes to health behaviors. From a randomized clinical trial, we assessed the impact of culinary education on home cooking practices, coping strategies and resiliency during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (March/April 2020). Participants (n = 28) were aged 25–70 years with a BMI of 27.5–35 kg/m². The intervention consisted of 12 weekly 30-min one-on-one telemedicine culinary coaching sessions. Coping strategies were assessed through the Brief Coping with Problems Experienced Inventory, and resiliency using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale. Home cooking practices were assessed through qualitative analysis. The average use of self-care as a coping strategy by the intervention group was 6.14 (1.66), compared to the control with 4.64 (1.69); p = 0.03. While more intervention participants had high (n = 5) and medium (n = 8) resiliency compared to controls (n = 4, n = 6, respectively), this difference was not significant (p = 0.33). Intervention participants reported using home cooking skills such as meal planning and time saving techniques during the pandemic. The key findings were that culinary coaching via telemedicine may be an effective intervention for teaching home cooking skills and promoting the use of self-care as a coping strategy during times of stress, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

This case series describes and examines the outcomes of a remote culinary coaching program aimed at improving nutrition through home cooking. Participants (n = 4) improved attitudes about the perceived ease of home cooking (p < 0.01) and self-efficacy to perform various culinary skills (p = 0.02); and also improved in confidence to continue online learning of culinary skills and consume healthier food. We believe this program might be a viable response to the need for effective and scalable health-related culinary interventions.

Background: Nutrition medical education training programs that are focused on home cooking are emerging. Objective: This short communication describes the first synchronous tele-nutrition medical education training program using a novel Culinary Coaching (CC) model. Design: Seven health coaches were trained and each coach delivered CC programs to four patients (28 total). Evaluations included:1) two questionnaires before, immediately after, and six months post training program; and 2) one questionnaire after each patient program. Results: CC training significantly improved coaches’ attitudes about and confidence to deliver CC from pre-program means of 3.61 and 3.65 (out of 5), respectively, to post-program means, 3.77 (p<0.01) and 3.86 (p<0.05), respectively, and remained higher 6 months after the training program (3.93, p<0.01; 3.93, p<0.05). Health coaches described a high usage of CC principles and tools through the patient programs. Conclusions: This early evidence suggests that the CC model can be successfully expanded to health coaches, thus improving nutritional care.

The authors investigated lifetime exposure to traumatic brain injury (TBI) among veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI) in order to describe outcome differences as a function of self-reported TBI history. Cross sectional study, veterans with SCI (N = 857) completed the Ohio State University TBI Identification interview method (OSU-TBI); Veterans RAND 36-Item Health Survey (VR-36); Quick Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology, Self-Report (QIDS-SR); Patient Health Questionnaire-9; Satisfaction with Life Scale; Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART; along with clinician-rated Functional Independence Measure (FIM) Total, Motor, and Cognitive scores. Probable TBI exposure was described by 77.6% of participants, with 38% reporting sustaining more than one injury. Self-reported TBIs classified as moderate/severe comprised 49.5% of injuries. Participants with self-reported TBI obtained significantly lower scores on the FIM-Cognitive and CHART Cognitive Independence scales and reported more alcohol use. A history of multiple TBIs was additionally associated with lower mental well-being on the VR-36. These findings highlight the need to consider more than co-occurring injuries and the potential utility of the OSU-TBI for this purpose. Recognizing lifetime exposure to TBI among veterans with SCI may help identify those with broader impairments and enhance the rehabilitation process. (PsycINFO Database Record