title: Dissociations in the meaning of risk between health-care professionals and individuals with spinal cord injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Risks have been a central concern in stem cell research overall, and in clinical trials of individuals with spinal cord injury (ISCIs) in particular. We sought to elucidate how two important stakeholder groups-health-care professionals (HCPs) and ISCIs-view and value both the physical and non-physical risks of stem cell interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in Canada, and included participants from both Canada and the United States America.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used semi-structured interviews to gain perspectives on risk from HCPs and ISCIs.
  
  
  METHODS
  We applied a constant comparative analytic strategy to derive themes from the discourse collected through the interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified three major themes about risk from 12 HCP and 24 ISCI participants: focus, rationale and approach. The salient components of the themes differed: HCPs focus on the physical causes of risks, and the ISCIs on their downstream consequences as well as on non-physical risks; HCPs are concerned about evidence, and ISCIs about experience; and HCPs approach risk narrowly, whereas the approach of ISCIs is more broad and contextualized.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although major themes were common to the two stakeholder groups, the components of the themes were dissociable and illustrate differences in what HCPs and ISCIs worry about, why they worry and how they approach their worries. We draw upon these findings to make recommendations for improving risk communication and informed consent for stem cell research for spinal cord injury.
authors.affiliation: Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, National Core for Neuroethics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Coulmbia, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eijkholt
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Illes
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012306:Risk; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States