title: Therapeutic education in persons with spinal cord injury: a review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Therapeutic education is an integrant part of the physical medicine and rehabilitation care of persons with spinal cord injury. It is often conducted in an empirical manner. The objective of this literature review was to evaluate the state of the art regarding the evaluations and therapeutic education programs for persons with spinal cord injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systematic review of the literature with Medline and Cochrane Library databases from 1966 to 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main areas of interest, for the evaluations found in the literature, focused on clinical variables, patients' knowledge, health behaviors, functional independence and quality of life but also psychological dimensions such as health locus of control, representations, abilities to resolve problems and self-perceived efficacy. Ten clinical studies were retained for analysis. These clinical studies were built around various health and educational models. An impact was highlighted on clinical variables (pressure ulcer, urinary tract infection), knowledge, quality of life and psychological criteria (depression, self-perceived efficacy, coping and problem solving strategies).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The global level of evidence on the effects of therapeutic education in persons with spinal cord injury is low because of the number of studies and their low statistical power and requires additional studies. However, the analysis of the literature allows for discussing the organization of therapeutic education in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Centre mutualiste neurologique PROPARA, Parc Euromédecine, 263, rue du Caducée, 34090 Montpellier, France. a.gelis@propara.languedoc-mutualite.fr
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gélis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stéfan
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Colin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gault
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Perrouin-Verbe
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fattal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pelissier
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coudeyre
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015438:Health Behavior; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D011340:Problem Solving; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012648:Self Care; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires