title: Brief report: an online support intervention: perceptions of adolescents with physical disabilities.
abstract: Adolescents with cerebral palsy and spina bifida report restricted interactions with peers and gaps in social support. A pilot online support intervention offered interactions with peers. Five mentors with cerebral palsy or spina bifida and 22 adolescents with the same disabilities met weekly online for 25 group sessions over six months. Participants completed quantitative measures of loneliness, sense of community, self-perceptions, coping, and social support prior to intervention, post-intervention, and delayed post-intervention. Semi-structured qualitative interviews elicited perceptions of the intervention's impacts. Participants reported more contact with teens with disabilities, decreased loneliness, and increased social acceptance and confidence. A significant increase in sense of community was reported from post-intervention to delayed post-intervention. Encouraging qualitative findings were supported by trends in the quantitative measures. This pilot study can guide a future community-based intervention trial.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and School of Public Health, 700 University Terrace, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2T4, Canada. miriam.stewart@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnfather
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magill-Evans
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Letourneau
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000416:Alberta; D001290:Attitude; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012944:Social Support; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000523:psychology*; D014584:User-Computer Interface