Summary

What it measures:

Degree to which elements of the physical, social, and political environments act as barriers or facilitators to full participation for people with disabilities Overall impact of environmental barriers across 5 domains as calculated by the frequency and degree of the problem encountered: • Accessibility • Accommodation • Resource availability • Social support • Equality

Target Population:

People with spinal cord injury (SCI)

Professional Association Recommendations

Recommendations from the APTA Neurology Section’s SCI EDGE Taskforce are listed below. These recommendations were developed by a panel of research and clinical experts using a modified Delphi process.

SCI EDGE:

• Reasonable to use, but limited study in target group in acute and subacute levels of acuity
• Recommended for chronic level of acuity
• Recommended for AIS classifications A/B and C/D
• Not recommended that students learn to administer the tool or receive exposure to the tool
• Not recommended for use in intervention research studies

Normative/Reference Data

Chronic and Acute SCI: (Kennedy et al, 2009; n=80; 10% complete tetraplegia, 29% incomplete tetraplegia; 21% complete paraplegia, 29% incomplete paraplegia; mean age=50.37 y [range=18 to 81 y]):

Environmental barriers did not seem to have a large impact on activities (for this sample)

Mean scores (SD) by domain:

Attitudes and support=0.51 (1.14)

Services and assistance=1.44 (1.85)

Physical and structural=2.24 (2.27)

Policies=0.86 (1.76)

Work and school=0.18 (0.56)

Chronic SCI (Whiteneck, Meade et al, 2004; n=2,762 participants enrolled in the Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems [MSCIS] program; CHIEF SF-12 used):

Mean Scores by AIS Grade