Capturing the psychologic-personal perspective in spinal cord injury

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Comprehensive research on spinal cord injury (SCI) requires integrating the psychologic-personal perspective.
• The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a framework for such comprehensive studies.
• Existing research often lacks a systematic approach to capture these crucial personal factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a systematic approach for measuring psychologic-personal factors within ICF-based SCI research.
• To identify relevant research areas, specific domains, and suitable measurement instruments for these factors.
• To enhance the comprehensiveness of SCI research by including the psychologic-personal dimension.

Main Methods:

• Secondary data analysis of 1246 entries from SCI studies to establish factor structure.
• Systematic literature review of PubMed and PsycInfo to identify psychologic-personal domains.
• Collection and selection of measurement instruments based on predefined guiding principles.

Main Results:

• Identification of 40 specific psychologic-personal factors across seven research areas.
• Defined domains include quality of life, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, coping, and personality.
• Exemplified instrument selection using the General Self-Efficacy Scale.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a transparent protocol for the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort study.
• Emphasizes the importance of the psychologic-personal perspective in ICF-based SCI research.
• Aims to guide future research and inform the World Health Organization's ICF development.