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Updated: Mar 20, 2026
Activity-based Training on a Treadmill with Spinal Cord Injured Wistar Rats
Published on: January 16, 2019
Trajectories of Life Satisfaction After Spinal Cord Injury
Christopher R Pretz1, Allan J Kozlowski2, Yuying Chen3
1Craig Hospital, Englewood, CO; Traumatic Brain Injury National Data and Statistical Center, Englewood, CO.
Objective:
To describe individual-level temporal change in life satisfaction after spinal cord injury.
Design:
Individual growth curve (IGC) analysis of prospectively collected data from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research National Spinal Cord Injury Database (NSCID).
Setting:
Multicenter, longitudinal database study.
Participants:
Participants (N=4846) in the NSCID.
Interventions:
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure:
Rasch-transformed Satisfaction With Life Scale scores.
Results:
Individual-level trajectories reflecting life satisfaction vary extensively and are associated with demographic and injury-related characteristics. Demographic characteristics include race, sex, pre-employment and discharge marital status, and level of education; injury-related factors include days in rehabilitation, neurologic level, age at injury, and injury etiology. Results are displayed graphically by way of a computer-generated interactive tool and represent different trajectories of individual-level changes in life satisfaction.
Conclusions:
IGC methodology allows researchers and clinicians to anticipate patient-specific trajectories through use of an automated interactive tool. Projected trajectories hold promise in facilitating planning for inpatient and outpatient services, which could enhance long-term outcomes.
