Predictors of personal care assistance for people with spinal cord injury.

Abstract

To assess the predictors of personal care assistance (PCA) use in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Cross-sectional. Follow-up of individuals crossing their 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, or 25th anniversary of injury who underwent their initial rehabilitation at a Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems center. A total of 2154 participants (2547 records) who met the inclusion criteria for the National Spinal Cord Injury Database and had valid values for the main outcome measures. Not applicable. Daily hours of paid, unpaid, and occasional PCA services. Differences in an interval version of the motor portion of the FIM trade mark instrument accounted for 26.3% of the variance in total PCA hours, Model Systems differences accounted for 9.3%, and no other predictor accounted for more than 2.1% of the variance. Activities of daily living functioning, as measured by the motor portion of the FIM, was the strongest predictor of PCA use among people with SCI.