Abstract
Community living individuals with SCI face major health-related QoL challenges, especially in countries such as Greece, due to the lack of infrastructure and support networks. The aim of this study is to evaluate QoL of people with SCI who have already completed the rehabilitation program and live in the geographic area of Western Greece and to identify the clinical and demographic factors that affect QoL in this population. Thirty-six individuals with SCI living in Western Greece participated in this study. We used World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire to estimate their QoL levels. Additional data were collected by clinical measurements and a demographic questionnaire. The mean age of the sample was 45.1±9.8 years, the mean time since injury was 13.1±11.7 years and 89% of the participants were male. The mean values of QoL parameters ranged from 56.6±16.6 up to 100 (physical health) to 67.7±18.1 up to 100 (environment). Lower education level (p = 0.035) and married life (p = 0.006) are associated with higher QoL levels regarding environment and social relationships respectively. Additionally, as time since injury passes, the aspect of Qol that is related with social relationships improves (p = 0.04). The study documents relatively high rates of QoL in the population of individuals with SCI in Western Greece. Married life, low educational level and long time post injury are determinants of high QoL levels in this population.
Highlights
Spinal cord injury is a severe medical condition, which may result in paralysis, sensory deficits and sphincter dysfunction [1]
Time passed since the injury, gender, marital status, level of injury, employment status, education level and presence of pain or pressure ulcers (PUs) are the main variables that have been thoroughly examined in literature [47]
Hypothesis We hypothesized that Quality of Life (QoL) levels of individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) in Western Greece would be similar to those that were found in previous literature regarding the whole country
Summary
Spinal cord injury is a severe medical condition, which may result in paralysis, sensory deficits and sphincter dysfunction [1]. People with acquired SCI, after completing the inpatient rehabilitation program and enter community life, they face major health-related QoL challenges, regarding well-being, social participation and ability to perform activities of daily life [2]. The technology development during the last decades has promoted QoL of individuals with SCI· the wide use of computer assisted technology and the advances in motor devices have enhanced the ability of those people to have access in knowledge, education, and work, to travel and to participate in leisure activities [3]. There is a general consensus that short time since the injury, pain and PUs are the main predicting factors of low QoL levels in various populations of people with SCI [4,5,6,7]
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