Abstract
Objectives
To investigate the role of spinal cord injury (SCI) peer mentorship on quality of
life (QoL)/participation, and test a self-determination theory model that explains
the role of SCI peer mentorship on these outcomes.
Design
A static group comparison design.
Setting
Community.
Participants
A convenience sample of mentees (individuals receiving peer mentorship) (n=68) and
nonmentees (n=63) who had an SCI, were older than 18 years, and spoke either English
or French.
Interventions
Mentees: at least 4 peer mentorship sessions over the past 5 years; nonpeer mentees:
0 or 1 brief introductory session.
Main Outcome Measures
QoL (ie, life satisfaction and positive and negative affect), participation (eg, autonomous
indoor; family role), and the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Results
No group differences were found, but years since injury was a moderator indicating
that, generally, peer mentees living with SCI for longer (∼30y) appear to benefit
more from peer mentorship interactions compared with nonmentees and mentees living
with SCI for approximately 6 years. Competence and relatedness mediated the peer mentorship–outcome
relationship for QoL and some participation variables, indicating that peer mentorship
predicted competence and relatedness, which in turn were related to the outcomes.
Conclusions
Satisfaction of competence and relatedness needs requires greater attention in SCI
peer mentorship. Years since injury modified the relationship between peer mentorship
and outcomes, which provided new insights on the role of SCI peer mentorship. Further
studies are needed to determine SCI peer mentorship–specific outcomes that are important
across the years-since-injury spectrum.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
ANCOVA (analysis of covariance), bCI (bias-corrected confidence interval), QoL (quality of life), SCI (spinal cord injury), SDT (self-determination theory), YSI (years since injury)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 22, 2017
Footnotes
Supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant no. SSHRC 430-2014-00168).
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
