Overview of psychosocial health among youth with spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND

Psychosocial health can be conceptualized as being mentally, emotionally, and socially well. Little is known about normative psychosocial development among children and adolescents with spinal cord injury (SCI).

OBJECTIVE

To provide a comprehensive overview of psychosocial health of 410 youth with SCI from ages 2 to 18 years. To understand developmental trends, data are presented separately for ages 2-5, 6-12, 13-15, and 16-18 years.

METHODS

Youth with SCI were recruited from 1 of 3 pediatric specialty hospitals within a single hospital system. Structured surveys assessing community participation, quality of life (QOL), and mental health (including anxiety and depression) were completed by youth with SCI (for ages 6-18) or their primary caregivers (for ages 2-5). Descriptive statistics were used to assess how patients scored on all standardized measures.

RESULTS

Of the 410 participants, 56% were male, 64% were Caucasian, 66% had paraplegia, and 55% had complete injuries. On average, the participants were 12 years old (SD 4.87) at interview and 7.26 years old (SD 5.97) at injury. Psychosocial health outcomes were described for each of the 4 age groups: 2-5 years (n = 52), 6-12 (n = 142), 13-15 (n = 82), and 16-18 (n = 134) years.

CONCLUSIONS

As compared to published norms, this sample of youth with SCI seemed to be experiencing decreased levels of community participation and QOL, but also decreased levels of anxiety and depression. These data provide needed information to clinicians regarding how youth with SCI may typically experience psychosocial health and where their patients fit into that typical experience.