ArticleSpinal cord2021
Media portrayal of spinal cord injury and its impact on lived experiences: a phenomological study.
Article in Spinal cord, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Growing stronger: Nine decades of physical disability representation in children's media and implications for pediatric rehabilitation.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicine · 2026Article
- Spinal Cord Injury as a Socially Lived Disability: A Phenomenological Study of Rehabilitation and Everyday Life Among Community-Dwelling Individuals.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Perspectives on Barriers to Use and Benefits of Functional Electrical Stimulation From Australians and New Zealanders With SCI and Clinicians and Researchers in the Field.Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitation · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designThis is a qualitative, phenomenological study.
objectiveTo investigate media portrayal of spinal cord injury (SCI) as perceived by people with SCI and explore its impact on their lived experience.
settingPeople with SCI living in Australia.
methodTwenty-four participants, recruited using purposive and snowball sampling, completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Thematic data analysis followed an inductive, iterative process.
resultsParticipants perceived media portrayed SCI through a narrow lens, describing how people with SCI were 'absent' or portrayed as either 'pity or pedestal'. Participants said media portrayed an inaccurate picture of their lived experience that perpetuated misunderstandings of SCI. This portrayal fostered unreasonable public expectations and assumptions about living with SCI, which presented in the participant's lives as uncomfortable interactions and inappropriate remarks. The impact for participants was a burden to explain SCI and justify what it meant for them. People with SCI would like media to portray a broader, more authentic representation of SCI to improve public understanding and to reduce the negative impact on their lives.
conclusionPeople with SCI perceived a narrow and inaccurate portrayal of SCI in media that overlooked potential quality of life, overshadowed health and life domains they considered important and reinforced the idea that SCI can be overcome. People with SCI were mostly concerned with what was absent in media portrayal of SCI rather than what was present. Action for change lies in promoting information, expanding narratives and raising awareness to diverse abilities of people with SCI.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.