Content analysis of verbal communication between spinal cord injured and nondisabled male college students

Does the interaction between a disabled person and a nondisabled person differ in content and climate from the interaction between two nondisabled persons? The purpose of this study was to compare dyadic interaction behavior of traumatically disabled and nondisabled men paired in homogeneous or mixed dyads. Forty-five disabled and 45 nondisabled men, assigned to dyads consisting either of two disabled students, two nondisabled students, or one disabled and one nondisabled student, discussed a low, medium and high intimacy topic. A group of trials analysis of variance was used to assess the effects of dyad composition and topic intimacy on self-disclosure. Dyads consisting of two nondisabled partners exhibited the least self-disclosure at all levels of topic intimacy. Dyads in which both partners were disabled exhibited the most self-disclosure on low and medium intimacy topics and had the greatest frequency of disability related responses. The mixed dyads exhibited the most self-disclosure on the high intimacy topic. Disabled subjects in homogeneous dyads exhibited greater depth of self-disclosure than nondisabled subjects in homogeneous dyads. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of facilitating the acquisition of interaction skills for traumatically disabled persons, evaluating patient-staff communication and the role of peer counseling in rehabilitation settings.