Factors influencing the quality of life of spouses of spinal cord injury patients / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore quality of life (QOL) of spouses of spinal cord injury patients,as well as its influencing factors.Methods Sixty-eight spouses of spinal cord injury patients were recruited as an observation group.At the same time,another 70 healthy married people who had no serious chronic diseases in the family but were matched in gender,age,occupation and education were chosen as a control group.The QOL of all the subjects in both groups was investigated by way of a questionnaire survey.The results of both groups were compared and factors that influenced their QOL were explored.Results The QOL of spouses of spinal cord injury patients,including total QOL ( 3.22 ± 0.37 ),physiological function ( 60.57 ± 14.22 ),psychological state ( 60.09 ± 8.06 ),social relations (63.37 ± 8.10 ) and the living environment (66.86 ± 11.26 ) were significantly lower than in the control group (4.62 ± 0.75 ; 82.48 ± 10.92 ; 86.02 ± 8.75 ; 85.94 ± 10.13 and 83.23 ± 9.54,respectively).The QOL of spouses of spinal cord injury patients was closely related to the patient's injury type,injury position,the treatment protocol,as well as their own gender,vocation and education.Conclusion The QOL of spouses of spinal cord injury patients is significantly lower than that of normal people,and closely related with the patients' injury type,injury position and treatment,as well as their own gender,vocation and education.