This pilot study has two aims. The first aim is to establish the feasibility of coaching for caregivers of youth with spinal cord injury, and the second aim is to establish methodological procedures for a future multi-center study on the effectiveness of coaching as an intervention for caregivers of youth with spinal cord injury.

This study addresses the unmet needs of female primary informal caregivers of youth with spinal cord injury. A one-group pre-post treatment design will be used. Consented caregivers will receive coaching via face-to-face or via the phone. Each caregiver will participate in up to 10 coaching sessions. Each coaching session will last up to 90 minutes. Coaching sessions will be audiorecorded and transcribed verbatim. Outcomes of coaching on caregivers' self-identified goals will be assessed using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure.

Inclusion Criteria:

• female primary caregiver of youth between 6-13 years of age with traumatic spinal cord injury
• female primary caregivers have legal guardianship of their child with spinal cord injury
• speak, read and comprehend English
• be available for face-to-face coaching
• have a cell phone with text messaging capabilities, and willing to utilize cell or land line for coaching and data collection
• able to verbalize changes in their own participation or their child's participation during initial screen
• written consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• severe mental health condition of female caregiver, as documented in child's medical record or reported to research staff by child's treating MD or medical team member
• abuses illicit or prescribed substances or alcohol at time of initial screen as documented in child's medical record or reported to research staff by child's treating MD or medical team member

This study is focused on primary female informal caregivers

up to 10 weeks

10 Coaching sessions were provided over a period of up to 10 weeks, during which time adverse events were monitored.

We did not achieve our desired sample size of 16. We originally planned to have an equal number of caregivers in each group, however caregivers did not want to be coached in person due to logistical challenges. The study is limited by the small sample size, and COPM scores were generated from more than one goal from each caregiver (there were 31 COPM goals across the 7 participants, with each participant contributing between 3-5 goals).