Relationship between quality of life and self-efficacy in persons with spinal cord injuries.

OBJECTIVE: To study the interaction between quality of life in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and expectations of daily living (self-efficacy) and pain.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with multiple independent measures.

SETTING: Home survey.

PARTICIPANTS: Included 106 persons with SCI of 12 months or more in duration who were living in the community and had enrolled from past admission lists in a rehabilitation unit.

INTERVENTION: Participants received no treatments as part of the study but were asked to complete 2 questionnaires by postal survey in their postrehabilitation stage.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Moorong Self-Efficacy Scale.

RESULTS: Persons with SCI were found to have lowered quality of life (QOL) compared with the Australian general population. Low self-efficacy and pain intensity were found to reduce QOL across all SF-36 domains even further. Factors such as completeness of lesion, sex, age at time of injury, and time since injury were not associated with reduced QOL. Tetraplegia was associated with lower QOL in physical functioning and greater limitation due to bodily pain. A combination of low self-efficacy and pain intensity was associated with an increased reduction in QOL compared with reductions seen for these factors by themselves.

CONCLUSIONS: Rehabilitation strategies may need to concentrate on improving QOL by targeting factors like low self-efficacy.