Exploring the Facilitators and Barriers of Social Integration of Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries in Rofeideh Rehabilitation Hospital: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objective People's lives change after unfortunate events such as spinal cord injury, and the people with this injury, as a citizen, face various obstacles and challenges to participate in society. This study explores the barriers and facilitators of social integration of patients with spinal cord injuries in Rofeideh Rehabilitation Hospital. Materials & Methods This research was conducted using Granheim and Lundman's (2004) conventional content analysis. The participants comprised 13 people with spinal cord injury, 4 family caregivers of patients, and 5 rehabilitation service providers in Rofeideh Rehabilitation Hospital, which were selected by purposive sampling. Sampling was continued until data saturation. Data were collected and analyzed using semi-structured in-depth interviews. To evaluate the stability of the data, four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability proposed by Guba and Lincoln were used. Results Facilitators of social integration of people with spinal cord injury were identified in the 3 main categories and 8 subcategories. The main categories were "social support," "social participation," and "individual beliefs." The barriers to social integration were extracted from participants' experiences and consist of 3 main categories of "environmental and structural barriers," "physical and motor barriers," and "contextual factors" and 6 related subcategories. Conclusion According to the findings of this study, patients with spinal cord injuries face various barriers in order to re-integrate into the community. On the other hand, helpful factors at different levels of individual, family, and social facilitate their social integration process. Recognizing these factors, derived from the deep and rich experiences of people with spinal cord injury, family caregivers, and rehabilitation service providers, can be useful to patients, families, professionals, and policymakers. They can use these experiences to program, design, and implement related interventions to reduce barriers and strengthen facilitators to the social integration of the target group.