TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychological screening of significant others during spinal cord injury rehabilitation
AU - van Diemen, Tijn
AU - Scholten, Eline W.M.
AU - Langerak, Nelleke G.
AU - van Nes, Ilse J.W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to International Spinal Cord Society 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objective: Determine the course of burden and psychological distress of significant others (SOs) during initial spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation and to predict the caregiver’s burden at discharge with characteristics of SOs and persons with SCI (PSCIs) at the start of rehabilitation. Setting: Rehabilitation center Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Methods: All PSCIs admitted for initial rehabilitation between October 2020 and December 2022 were included. One of their SOs were asked to complete a set of screening questionnaires, collected in our routine context of care. Results: A total of 181 PSCIs (62% male, average age 60 years, 80% incomplete SCI, 60% paraplegia and 32 days after injury) and 158 SOs (40% male, average age 57 years) were screened at admission, and 145 and 93 at discharge, respectively. For SOs, the average caregiver’s burden and feelings of depression and anxiety did not change during admission. The caregiver’s burden score at discharge was best predicted by the burden score at admission, explaining 20% (P < 0.001) of the variance. An additional 13% (P = 0.02) of the variance was explained by other SO and PSCI variables gathered in this study. Conclusion: The caregiver’s burden in this group of SOs during rehabilitation, was higher than that of a representative group in the chronic phase. On both assessments, around 20% scored above the cutoff. Scores of psychological distress are comparable to former studies. Standard screening of SOs during initial SCI rehabilitation is important to help the interdisciplinary team identify SOs at risk, and target their treatment during inpatient rehabilitation.
AB - Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objective: Determine the course of burden and psychological distress of significant others (SOs) during initial spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation and to predict the caregiver’s burden at discharge with characteristics of SOs and persons with SCI (PSCIs) at the start of rehabilitation. Setting: Rehabilitation center Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Methods: All PSCIs admitted for initial rehabilitation between October 2020 and December 2022 were included. One of their SOs were asked to complete a set of screening questionnaires, collected in our routine context of care. Results: A total of 181 PSCIs (62% male, average age 60 years, 80% incomplete SCI, 60% paraplegia and 32 days after injury) and 158 SOs (40% male, average age 57 years) were screened at admission, and 145 and 93 at discharge, respectively. For SOs, the average caregiver’s burden and feelings of depression and anxiety did not change during admission. The caregiver’s burden score at discharge was best predicted by the burden score at admission, explaining 20% (P < 0.001) of the variance. An additional 13% (P = 0.02) of the variance was explained by other SO and PSCI variables gathered in this study. Conclusion: The caregiver’s burden in this group of SOs during rehabilitation, was higher than that of a representative group in the chronic phase. On both assessments, around 20% scored above the cutoff. Scores of psychological distress are comparable to former studies. Standard screening of SOs during initial SCI rehabilitation is important to help the interdisciplinary team identify SOs at risk, and target their treatment during inpatient rehabilitation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85202209985&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41393-024-01024-2
DO - 10.1038/s41393-024-01024-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85202209985
SN - 1362-4393
VL - 62
SP - 584
EP - 589
JO - Spinal Cord
JF - Spinal Cord
IS - 10
ER -