PR_259: A Pilot Study of the Interaction Between Spirituality and Rehabilitation Outcome in Patients With Spinal Cord Injury or Disease

Abstract

Objective: To determine if spirituality (spiritual well-being, spiritual and religious practices, positive religious coping) impacts rehabilitation outcomes for persons with spinal cord injury or severe neurologic illness. Design: Prospective observational survey using 3 patient self-reported spirituality instruments: the Duke Religious Index, the Spirituality Well-Being Scale, and the Brief Religious Coping Scale were used to measure spirituality. Setting: Academic medical center rehabilitation unit. Participants: 103 subjects admitted to an acute inpatient rehabilitation unit between January 2003 and June 2005. The exclusion criteria were: age less than 18, Folstein Mini-Mental Status Examination score less than 22, diagnosis of an acquired brain disorder that could impair cognition or perception, or status as a federal medical center prisoner. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: FIM instrument, rehabilitation length of stay (LOS), and discharge location. Results: Diagnoses were paraplegia in 50 subjects; tetraplegia in 31 subjects; and neurologic disease in 15 subjects. 10 patients failed to complete data collection after enrollment. Admission FIM score was 66.4±15.9 and discharge FIM score was 95.0±18.0. Rehabilitation LOS was 19.8±14 days. 87% of participants went home. Except for a relationship between negative religious coping and reduced LOS, linear regression was unable to identify any relationship between the measures of spirituality and any rehabilitation outcome. Conclusions: There does not appear to be a relationship between these measures of spirituality and rehabilitation outcomes (rehabilitation LOS, FIM score change, discharge location). The relationship between negative religious coping and LOS is of questionable significance.