Paraplegia from Spinal Cord Injury: Self-Esteem, Loneliness, and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

With advances in health care sciences, people with spinal cord injuries can now live to old age. Rehabilitation of the disabled is a dynamic process and should include not only attaining maximum function, but also receiving satisfaction with life in one's environment. Life satisfaction is thought to be the subjective part of quality of life, i.e., the feelings of the persons concerned about their functioning and circumstances. However, these feelings are influenced by self-esteem, the positive or negative attitude toward oneself, as well as life satisfaction and the effect of loneliness on self-esteem. Forty community-living adults with paraplegia from spinal cord injury from the metropolitan area of Athens responded to the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Life Satisfaction Index. As expected, statistically significant correlations were obtained among self-esteem, life satisfaction, and loneliness. More specifically, the higher an individual's self-esteem: a) the higher the life satisfaction and b) the lower the feelings of loneliness experienced. Furthermore, there was a statistically negative relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction. Community mobility, architectural adaptations, and social support, as it is reflected through marital status and frequency of received visits, proved to be important factors in understanding loneliness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Implications for rehabilitation of individuals with spinal cord injuries are discussed.