The Effect of Health Service Use, Unmet Need, and Service Obstacles on Quality of Life and Psychological Well-Being in the First Year After Discharge From Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation
Published 4th March 2020
Borg, D., Foster, M., Legg, M., Jones, R., Kendall, E., Fleming, J. & Geraghty, T.
Setting: Community setting
Participants: People with SCI (N=55; mean age 51y; 76.4% men; 61.8% traumatic injury; mean length of stay 137d).
Main Outcome Measures: Service Usage Scale, Service Obstacles Scale, the EuroQol-5D, and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale short form. Eight predictors of outcome were considered: service use (ie, use of general practitioner, medical specialist, nursing, and allied health, and rehospitalization), unmet need, and service obstacles (ie, finances and transport). Possibly important predictors of each outcome were identified via penalized regression, and a final model was fit using Bayesian hierarchical regression with a Gaussian or zero-inflated Poisson response distribution.
Results: Financial obstacles were associated with a poorer HR QoL (β [95% credible interval]= −0.095 [−0.166 to −0.027]) and higher anxiety (odds ratio, OR [95% credible interval]=1.63 [1.16-2.23]). Rehospitalization was associated with a lower EuroQol visual analog scale (β= −11.2 [−19.7 to −2.5]) and, interestingly, lower anxiety (OR=1.63 [1.16-2.23]). Use of allied health was associated with higher anxiety (OR=2.48 [1.42-4.44]).
Conclusion: The varying degrees of financial hardship experienced after injury with complex rehabilitation needs requires investigation, as does the interactive effects of service use, unmet need, and service obstacles on outcomes like QoL and psychological well-being.
Authors
Professor and Director
Honorary Adjunct Professor
Professor and Director
