Quality of life persons with medulla spinalis lesions - pilot study

Abstract

Introduction. During the past decades, the medical progress has led to the improvement of survival rates in persons who have experienced SCI, but in return the focus from a survival has moved to a lifetime monitoring of the quality of life. The ultimate goal of rehabilitation after the spinal cord injury is the optimization of the remaining functions and achievement of acceptable quality of life. The aim of the research. Presentation of the obtained results of the perceived quality of life in persons with spinal cord injury and the differences between groups in relation to the lesion level. Method. The sample consisted of 43 participants of both genders, aged 18-65 years, living on the territory of the R. Serbia. The first group included 23 participants diagnosed with paraplegia and the other included 21 participants diagnosed with quadriplegia. Instruments of research. The clinical and sociodemographic data were collected by a specially constructed questionnaire General sociodemographic questionnaire, and for the purpose of the quality of life evaluation The Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life Questionnaire - SCI QL-23 was used. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for determination of the difference between the variables. Conclusion: Out of four, which were included by the QL-23, in three areas no statistically significant difference between participants with paraplegia and tetraplegiawas found. The difference was identified only at the level of functioning (P lt 0.001). The research results show that the injury level makes no significant difference in the perception of mood and depressive emotions, independence or autonomy loss, and global quality of life.