Abstract
In order to meet a long expressed need for a longitudinal study on personal adjustment to traumatic spinal cord injury, 17 consecutively treated persons with complete traumatic spinal cord injury were interviewed 0.5–5 years after the injury on six occasions, with a total of 102 interviews. The variables studied were age at injury, social status, the cause of the accident, spinal level of injury and physical complications. The subjective quality of life (QOL) was reported on a 0–10 scale at all interviews and showed four patterns during the 5 year period. Five subjects reported that they were coping very well, with an almost unchanged QOL after the injury. Six reported good coping after an initially low QOL in the first years. Two subjects reported an unstable QOL, and four persons reported a continually low QOL without improvement. Variables related to unsatisfactory coping were severe pain, age above 35 years at the time of trauma, and being blameless for the accident.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Trieschmann R B (1988) Spinal Cord Injuries: Psychological, Social, and Vocational Rehabilitation. Demos Publications, New York.
Trieschmann R B (1992) Psychosocial research in spinal cord injury: the state of the art. Paraplegia 30: 58–60.
Whalley H ammell K R (1992) Psychological and sociological theories concerning adjustment to traumatic spinal cord injury: the implications for rehabilitation. Paraplegia 30: 317–326.
Frank R G, Elliot T R, Corcoran J R, Wonderlich S A (1987) Depression after spinal cord injury: Is it necessary? Clin Psychol Rev 7: 611–630.
Krause J S, Crewe N M (1991) Chronologic age, time since injury, and time of measurement: effect on adjustment after spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 72: 91–100.
Woodrich F, Patterson J B (1983) Variables related to acceptance of disability in person with spinal cord injuries. J Rehabil 49: 26–30.
Bulman R J, Wortman C B (1977) Attributions of blame and coping in the ‘real world’: severe accident victims react to their lot. J Pers Soc Psychol 35: 351–363.
Schultz R, Decker S (1985) Long-term adjustment to physical disabilty: the role of social support, perceived control and self-blame. J Pers Soc Psychol 48: 1162–1172.
Nieves C C, Charter R A, Aspinall M J (1991) Relationship between effective coping and perceived quality of life in spinal cord injured patients. Rehabil Nurs 16: 129–132.
Hancock K M, Craig A R, Dickson H G et al (1993) Anxiety and depression over the first year of spinal cord injury: a longitudinal study. Paraplegia 31: 349–357.
Mawson A R, Jacobs K W, Winchester Y, Biundo J J (1988) Sensation-seeking and traumatic spinal cord injury: case-control study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 69: 1039–1043.
Buckelew S P, Frank R G, Elliot T R et al (1991) Adjustment to spinal cord injury: stage theory revisited. Paraplegia 29: 125–130.
Richards J S (1986) Psychologic adjustment to spinal cord injury during first postdischarge year. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 67: 362–365
Judd F K, Brown D J, Burrows G D (1991) Depression, disease and disability: application to patients with traumatic spinal cord injury. Paraplegia 29: 91–96.
Dijkers M, Cushman L A (1990) Differences between rehabilitation disciplines in views of depression in spinal cord injury patients. Paraplegia 28: 380–391.
Krause J S (1992) Longitudinal changes in adjustment after spinal cord injury: a 15-year study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 73: 564–568.
Stensman R (1985) Severe mobility-disabled people assess the quality of their lives. Scand J Rehabil Med 17: 87–99.
Fuhrer M J, Rintala D H, Hart K A et al (1992) Relationship of life satisfaction to impairment, disability, and handicap among persons with spinal cord injury living in the community. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 73: 552–557.
Crewe N M (1980) Quality of life-the ultimate goal in rehabilitation. Minnesota Med 63: 586–589.
Ray C, West J, (1984) I. Social, sexual and personal implications of paraplegia. Paraplegia 22: 75–86.
Carlson C E (1879) Conceptual style and life satisfaction following spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 60: 346–352.
Lundqvist C, Siösteen A, Blomstrand C et al (1991) Spinal cord injuries, clinical, functional, and emotional status. Spine 16: 78–83.
Paykel E S, Myers J K, Lindenthal J J, Tanner J (1974) Suicidal feelings in the general population: a prevalence study. Br J Psychiatry 124: 460–469.
Athelstan G T, Crewe N M (1979) Psychological adjustment to spinal cord injury as related to manner of onset of disability. Rehabil Counsel Bull 22: 311–319.
Hanson R W, Franklin M R (1976) Sexual loss in relation to other functional losses for spinal cord injured males. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 57: 291–293.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stensman, R. Adjustment to traumatic spinal cord injury. A longitudinal study of self-reported quality of life. Spinal Cord 32, 416–422 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1994.68
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1994.68
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Conceptualization and measurement of disability in studies on subjective well-being: a critical review and evidence from the Italian Health Surveys
International Review of Economics (2017)
-
Trajectories of quality of life in patients with traumatic limb injury: a 2-year follow-up study
Quality of Life Research (2016)
-
Modeling life satisfaction in spinal cord injury: the role of psychological resources
Quality of Life Research (2014)
-
Exploring psychometric properties of the SF-6D, a preference-based health-related quality of life measure, in the context of spinal cord injury
Quality of Life Research (2014)
-
Changes in life satisfaction in persons with spinal cord injury during and after inpatient rehabilitation: adaptation or measurement bias?
Quality of Life Research (2012)