Determinants of self-efficacy among persons with spinal cord injuries

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors affecting self-efficacy among persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). The study population consisted of 105 persons with SCI who were discharged from one of eight hospitals in north central Alabama between October 1989 and September 1992. Data were derived from a retrospective acute-care medical record review and 12-month annual follow-up telephone interviews. The findings indicate that high self-efficacy is significantly associated with less severe neurological impairment, being white, employed at injury, having a high-school education or beyond, and having an unintentional injury. In terms of marital status our data indicate the odds of divorced persons having high self-efficacy are 8.2 (CL = 0.919, 74.1) times those of married persons. In addition, 64% of those who were divorced during the 12 months after injury had high self-efficacy compared to 50% of those who were divorced prior to injury.