Preventing spinal cord injury through digital adaptation

Opportunity

On average, one person sustains a spinal cord injury in Australia every day, with approximately 20,800 Australians living with spinal cord injury. Of these people, around 15,000 live with paralysis [1]. While most people who have a spinal cord injury are young males, anyone can be impacted by spinal cord injury and paraplegia.

COVID-19 significantly impacted the activities of PBF Australia, causing the cancellation of face-to-face presentations for communities, schools, universities, and workplaces. These face-to-face engagements were a key part of the organisation’s community prevention program, delivered by presenters who have themselves suffered traumatic spinal cord injury. In response to this, the PBF Australia team applied to Lotterywest’s Strengthening and Adapting Organisations program, a special COVID-19 Relief Fund, to adapt their program to continue operations throughout 2020.

Approach

PBF Australia identified the opportunity to develop and deliver interactive online safety education presentations on the impact and prevention of spinal cord injury for West Australians. A Lotterywest grant of $50,000 supported the purchase of studio equipment, which helped the organisation to continue delivering real time presentations despite COVID-19 restrictions. A presenter training program and user-friendly manual on how to use the equipment were key supporting elements of the program. This holistic program ensured presenters felt comfortable and confident in the new approach.

Impacts and outcomes

The purchase of professional quality, portable studio equipment allowed PBF Australia to continue to deliver their community prevention program in Western Australia throughout COVID-19 restrictions.

Nine presenters participated in training for the digital project. This included learning how to use the new equipment, as well as a session with an external facilitator to upskill and adapt presentation styles to be engaging for digital audiences. Following group training, presenters worked one-on-one with PBF Australia staff to hone their own personal presentations and deliver practice sessions.

For the presenters, the development of skills and confidence for a new format of presenting was a key outcome. All presenters who participated in the training reported a positive experience.

“Initially I was sceptical about the online presentations as I have always been nervous on camera, and I wasn’t confident that I would be able to engage with the audience. With practice though, and now having successfully delivered a number of digital presentations, I feel so much more confident and even have helped to train and develop other speakers too. Being able to offer online presentations to schools, clubs and businesses means we will now be able to share our stories with more people to help prevent spinal cord injuries.” Jodie, PBF Australia Staff member

Over the course of the pilot:

While some presentations have returned to face-to-face delivery, PBF Australia has retained the online format as an option for presentations. This has enabled the organisation to increase access across the state, including in regional and remote locations. This broadening of geographic reach has had the flow on effect of creating additional opportunities for staff to more easily present community prevention sessions from their homes.

What worked

Budget accurately

Ensuring that the budget was as accurate as possible, and included support for internal resourcing was key to the successful delivery of this project.

Don’t make assumptions about skills and confidence

There were several staff with limited technological skills and confidence involved in the program. By talking with staff to find out their skill and confidence level prior, the digital training program could be developed so that it could support all staff members regardless of prior experience or confidence.

Colour coded guides and resources

In developing resources to support staff to use equipment, PBF Australia colour coded each piece of equipment with tape that matched the colours in the instruction manual. This was an easy way for staff to identify equipment they may have been unfamiliar with and locate relevant instructions. Guides and resources developed were supported by training seminars for presenters.

Key challenges

Sticking to timelines during COVID-19

Working with external stakeholders was a key part of this project, many of whom were impacted by COVID-19 and staff shortages. This resulted in planned activities taking longer than originally anticipated. By staying connected with Lotterywest about these delays, a variation was provided to extend the period of the grant to enable the project to be fully delivered.

Technology is not a perfect solution

At times, technology could be a challenge. Occasionally, organisations receiving presentations didn’t have the technology required to participate (e.g., Teams, Zoom or connected speakers) or there were issues with internet connectivity.

It took time for the digital presentations to reach the standard of presentation that had previously been established by in-person presentations. Continued exploration of technology, and ongoing support and training in presentation skills helped to address these challenges.

Many still prefer in-person presentations

PBF Australia have received some feedback that in-person presentations would have been preferred, although all organisations that received digital presentations were thankful for the adaptation given the circumstances.

REFERENCES

1. Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation, Facts. 2023 [cited 14 September 2023]; Available from Facts | PCSRF | To Cure Paralysis for All