Adjustment following chronic spinal cord injury: Determining factors that contribute to social participation

Abstract

These results provide direction for enhancing existing psychosocial health strategies within SCI rehabilitation, affording an opportunity for every person who sustains a permanent SCI to have optimal capacity for social participation. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Spinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with significant challenges to wellbeing, including a high risk of secondary chronic illnesses, risk of co-morbid mental health problems, financial insecurity and social isolation. Research has shown poor social participation can lead to problems in re-integration into society following discharge from inpatient rehabilitation. Research to date has examined various factors related to poor social participation, but the majority of this research has been survey based with convenience samples. What does this study add? This study adds results of prospective longitudinal research on adjustment following SCI, where adjustment was defined by the rate of social participation when living in the community. About one-third of SCI participants were found to have very poor social participation, and only one-third had found some form of employment 6 months after discharge. Multiple factors were found to predict and contribute to poor social participation, including older age when injured, more severe medical complications, cognitive deficits, poor perceptions of control or self-efficacy, and poor social support.

Definitions and Evaluation Indexes of Social Participation in Rehabilitation: A Qualitative Systematic Literature Review

“…Craig A, 2015 23) Social participation involves the degree to which a person integrates and interacts in their community and thus is related to personal autonomy.…”

Design principles in housing for people with complex physical and cognitive disability: towards an integrated framework for practice

“…The nature of personal care required often includes ongoing medical and ancillary treatment, including access to respirators, catheter support, and wound and dressing care, for example (Colantonio et al, 2015;Craig et al, 2015;Last et al, 2016). Healthcare in the home is therefore a fundamental element underlying the personal care and support of people with complex physical and cognitive disability.…”

The Use of Short Form 36 and Beck Depression Inventory in Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury Patients

“…SCI patients, therefore, often require ongoing medical and ancillary treatment. SCI is also associated with the development of secondary conditions such as chronic pain, infections, and chronic fatigue, all contributing to lower quality of life (QoL) and potentially reduced social participation [1][2][3][4]. There is convincing evidence that the prevalence of mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress syndrome, are elevated in persons with chronic SCI [5].…”

“…On the other hand, the objective method is to predict the subjective quality of life by assessing the objective damages of each case. Therefore, scholars believe that subjective feelings can be used to directly assess the quality of life, whereas the objective quality of life measurement can only describe the living conditions and experience, but not as a direct measure for the quality of life [1,2,[7][8][9][12][13][14].…”

“…The purpose of this study was to: (1) to understand the depression and QoL of patients with acute cervical SCI; (2) To explore the relationship between depression and QoL in patients with acute cervical SCI; and (3) to explore whether the predictors of depression and QoL affecting the acute cervical SCI were important predictors of recovery in JOA score.…”