Correlation among occupational roles and independence of users with spinal cord injury in process of rehabilitation

Abstract

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) causes physical, psychological and emotional changes that impact on occupational roles. In Brazil,there is a lack of research on this subject, which raises the need for further research in this field. The aim of this studyis to describe the occupational roles and independence of individuals with SCI within the rehabilitation process and toverify if there is a relationship among the variable levels of independence, occupational roles and the degree of importanceassigned to these. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a rehabilitation center of the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, with 33users in rehabilitation process, with more than six months of injury. The instruments used were the Role Checklist, the EconomicClassification Criterion Brazil-CCEB and Barthel Index-IB. The procedure for data analysis included non-parametricand Spearman Correlation Test. We identified fifteen subjects with paraplegia and eighteen with tetraplegia. The IB levelmore prevalent was the “moderate dependence”. For CCEB, 42% of the participants were in class B2 of purchasing power.All individuals with SCI (n = 33) lost occupational roles from past to present, however, they expressed a desire to increasethem in the future. A positive correlation was found between the occupational roles and independence (p<0.01) and alsothe occupational roles with the degree of importance (p<0.05). From data obtained we suggest the relevance of researchon the effects of interventions in rehabilitation as regards occupational roles, in order to promote the social reintegrationof these individuals in all areas of activities and social participation.