Factors Which Facilitate or Impede Interpersonal Interactions and Relationships after Spinal Cord Injury: A Scoping Review with Suggestions for Rehabilitation

Table 3

Factors which facilitate or impede interpersonal interactions and relationships after SCI.

Impeding factors	Facilitating factors
Body structure and function factors	Body structure and function factors
Level of impairment [32, 42, 58, 71]	Decreased impairment [37]
Incontinence [42, 54, 55, 60, 75, 82]	Sildenafil [38]
Bowel dysfunction [54, 57]
Poor health [58]	Good health [47, 63, 72]
Activities factors	Activities factors
Bladder management [55, 90]	Bladder management [43, 71]
Lack of independence [34, 59]	Independence [46, 83]
Need for preparation means no spontaneity [63, 81]	Manual wheelchair use (point of distinction) [33]
Time required for tasks [66]
Participation factors	Participation factors
Unemployed [32, 47, 66]	Recreation and sport [34, 36, 37, 40, 61, 86]
	Working [50, 51, 76, 89]
	Social integration [47]
Environment factors	Environment factors
Social environment factors	Social environment factors
Institutional constraints [68, 80]	Clubs, businesses, and organizations [58, 66]
Social bias [18, 33, 41, 42, 63, 80, 81, 84, 88]
Have not met the right person [75, 81]	Social rehabilitation [16, 17, 44, 52, 59, 68, 85]
Violent aetiology [32]	Vocational rehabilitation [51, 89]
Resource factors	Resource factors
Financial pressure [34, 37, 58, 82]	Assistive technology [66, 87]
No communication technology [53]	Communication technology [45, 53, 56, 64, 66, 81, 87]
Poor information [42, 49, 80, 81]	Equipment [58]
	Income [39, 66]
	Information and education [82, 88]
	Service dogs [62]
	Transportation [58, 71]
Physical environment factors	Physical environment factors
Access & terrain [52, 55, 58, 63, 66, 67, 82]	Less residential density and development [35]
Climatic conditions [66]
Supporter factors	Supporter factors
Impact of caregiver duties [41, 82]	Being married [71]
Friends or partner could not handle it [18, 65, 67, 73, 82]	Raising children [34]
Life situation precludes intimacy [42, 71]	Instrumental support [79]
Preinjury relationship issues [49]	Reciprocity and mutuality [16, 17, 46, 52, 68, 77–79]
Pressure from family [82, 84]	Partner support [16, 34, 72, 80–82]
Passage of time associated with relationship breakdown [32]	Relationships started after injury [49]
	Strong preinjury relationship [16, 69]
	Quality time [34, 41]
	Social support [17, 58, 59, 66, 72, 78, 81, 88]
	Peer support [74, 81]
Personal factors	Personal factors
Fixed factors	Fixed factors
Age [32, 39, 42, 70]	Age [37, 47, 71]
Educational level [39]	Cognitive ability [37]
Ethnicity [37, 47]	Culture [16]
Gender [71]	Higher education [47, 53]
Anxiety & avoidance in attachment style [46]	Gender [39]
	Secure attachment style [46]
Modifiable factors	Modifiable factors
Bitterness after breakups [49]	Broadening personal definition of sexuality [42, 49, 80–83]
Decreased sexual interest [75]	Helpful cognitive schemas [79]
Social discomfort [59]	Faith [16]
Fear of rejection [82]	High social self-monitoring [48]
Poor self-image [42, 49, 59, 75, 80–82, 84]	Positive self-image [36, 42, 52, 81, 88]
Not discussing disability [81]	Adaptation over time [81]
Not proactive [33]	Accepting help [65]
Opting out [49]	Effort [77]
Lack of social skill [52]	Self-presentation [52, 59, 80–82]
	Proactive [52, 67, 74, 82]
	Communication [16, 49, 77, 80, 82]
	Valuing relationships and being valued [16, 34, 52, 68, 82]
	Patience and acceptance [16]
	Good interpersonal skills [33]
	Gaining sexual experience [42]