title: Life satisfaction following spinal cord and traumatic brain injury: a comparative study.
abstract: The current study was designed to examine the predictive validity of several factors that are common to spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) populations to overall life satisfaction. We examined several demographic and functional predictors (1) within each group separately and (2) using both groups while controlling for unique predictors within groups. Participants included 190 and 57 individuals with SCI and TBI, respectively. To minimize the influence of injury duration, we assessed life satisfaction at 1-year postinjury in both groups. Functional disability (Functional Impairment Measure [FIM]) was the only common predictor within groups. For the TBI group, marital status was also a significant predictor of life satisfaction. None of the other predictors examined was significant among the SCI group. After functional disability and marital status were controlled, overall life satisfaction did not differ between groups. Total explained variance in life satisfaction was low in both groups, 9% and 25% in the SCI and TBI groups, respectively. Future directions are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.
authors.forename: Bret L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Hicken
authors.forename: John David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Putzke
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Novack
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sherer
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000407:Alabama; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008922:Mississippi; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires