Dr. Pilar Lusilla, investigator of the group of Psychiatry, Mental Health and Addictions of Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR) and physician of the Psychiatry group of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital led the project ESPELMA with the aim of giving training to professionals of the hospital in charge of the care and rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injuries and assess its effectiveness from the satisfaction of the patients.The investigator highlights that "it is a study with a triple objective" in the sense that it intended to improve the communication with patients and their motivation in rehabilitation, to guide their relatives and caregivers and enable the professionals to work emotional aspects of the patients.The design of the study allowed, in first place, to work with three kinds of focal groups separately: professionals, patients and relatives to identify what were the needs of each group and design a training package suitable for each one.Then, the investigators explored the resilience and quality of life of a group of 45 spinal cord injured patients, their relatives and health professionals. To evaluate the patient condition, the researchers used, among others, validated questionnaires of quality of life and functional improvement of spinal cord injured patients.In the next step of the study, 43 professionals of the unit received training and, finally, the researchers evaluated again a group of 45 patients to compare the results with the first group with which they observed an improvement related to communication.Dr. Lusilla explains that the study revealed that "the spinal cord injured patients need a high grade level of communication with the professionals who take care of them, the relatives, guidance and the professionals, training in communication skills". For this reason, the researchers create a http://proyectoespelma.org/" web site to continue to help patients, relatives and professionals.The study "Effectiveness of the Psycho-Emotional Support to the Acute Spinal Cord Injured Patient", known as ESPELMA in Spanish and Catalan, lasted for 3 years and was funded with 165.550,45 euros as a project of the edition of 2010 of La Marató dedicated to acquired spinal and brain injuries.