title: Availability and need of home adaptations for personal mobility among individuals with spinal cord injury.
abstract: To identify the availability and unmet need of home adaptations (HAs) among the Swiss population with spinal cord injury (SCI).
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  
  Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Community Survey 2012.
  
  
  
  Individuals aged 16 or older with chronic SCI living in Switzerland.
  
  
  
  Not applicable.
  
  
  
  The availability of ten HAs (self-report) was analyzed by sex, age, living situation, indoor mobility, SCI severity, SCI etiology and time since SCI. The unmet need (self-report of not having a HA but needing it) of HAs was analyzed by financial hardship.
  
  
  
  Among the 482 study participants (mean age 55.2 years, standard deviation 15.0 years, 71.6% males), 85.1% had at least one HA. The most frequent HA was a wheelchair accessible shower (62.7%). Availability of HAs markedly varied with indoor mobility (e.g. 38.4% of participants using a wheelchair had a stair lift compared to 17.4% of those walking) and with SCI severity (e.g. 54.8% of those with complete paraplegia had a wheelchair accessible kitchen worktop compared to 26.0% of those with incomplete paraplegia). Unmet need was highest for adjustable kitchen worktops (78.7% of those with a need) and adjustable kitchen cabinets (75.7%) and lowest for wheelchair accessible showers (9.4%) and grab bars next to the toilet (8.5%). No significant differences in unmet need were found when stratifying for financial hardship.
  
  
  
  Availability of HAs is dependent on indoor mobility and SCI severity. There is a considerable degree of unmet need for selected HAs, which couldn't be explained by financial hardship.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neurology , Inselspital Bern, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern , Bern , Switzerland.|b Swiss Paraplegic Research , Nottwil , Switzerland.|c Department of Health Sciences and Health Policy , University of Lucerne , Lucerne , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anneke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hertig-Godeschalk
authors.affiliation: b Swiss Paraplegic Research , Nottwil , Switzerland.|c Department of Health Sciences and Health Policy , University of Lucerne , Lucerne , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gemperli
authors.affiliation: b Swiss Paraplegic Research , Nottwil , Switzerland.|c Department of Health Sciences and Health Policy , University of Lucerne , Lucerne , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ursina
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Arnet
authors.affiliation: d Division of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Department of Sport, Exercise and Health , University of Basel , Basel , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6200-307X
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001107:Architectural Accessibility; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D000066530:Neurological Rehabilitation / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: Architectural accessibility; Disability; Disability and Health (ICF); International Classification of Functioning; Mobility limitation; Spinal cord injury