Abstract

TEIXEIRA, Ana Ribas; ALVES, José Bruno; SANTOS, António  and  GESTAL-OTERO, Juan. Traumatic spinal cord injury: the impact of sociodemographic variables on the adjustment and mental health of subjects affected. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.110-120. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/14psd150110.

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is one of the most devastating injuries physically and psychologically, with significant disabling and permanent clinical manifestations. Objectives: To understand how important are socio-demographic variables on psychological adjustment and mental health of affected individuals. Method: 168 individuals with SCI living in the Portuguese territory completed a socio-demographic and clinical questionnaire, the Brief COPE to assess used coping strategies, and the HADS to screen anxiety and depression symptoms. Results: The results of this study demonstrate that there are significant differences when considering the different levels of education (F=2.79; p=.03) and the type of occupation (F=3.31, p=.01). It is possible to verify that as educational level increases the use of dysfunctional strategies decreases, being at the level of occupation, the pensioners and the unemployed those who most use these strategies. Moreover, also the severity of anxiety symptoms is dependent on gender (c² =4.14; p=.04) and education level (c²=18,60; p=.001), being the men and the individuals with lower academic resources those with more severe symptoms. Conclusion: To know the reality of the subjects, victims of traumatic SCI and their specific needs allows health professionals and society in general to obtain accurate knowledge about the best way to support and minimize the weaknesses of this population in order to mobilize the human resources and accurate materials needed for these people with specific needs.

Keywords : Spinal Cord Injury; sociodemographic variables; coping; anxiety and depressive symptomatology.

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