Abstract
Objective
To examine the associations among social networks and loneliness on health and life
satisfaction in adults with chronic spinal cord injury/dysfunction (SCI/D).
Design
Cross-sectional telephone survey study.
Setting
Tertiary spinal cord injury rehabilitation center in Ontario, Canada.
Participants
Community-dwelling adults with chronic SCI/D (N=170).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
The main outcome measures were the Short-Form 36 to assess health and the Life Satisfaction-11
to assess life satisfaction.
Results
A hierarchical regression model predicting physical health accounted for 24% (P<.001) of the variance. The only social network variable to significantly contribute
to the model was having a higher proportion of network members living in one's household
(P<.05). A model predicting mental health accounted for 44% (P<.001) of the variance, with having a higher proportion of network members living in
one's household (P<.05) and lower feelings of loneliness (P<.001) associated with better mental health. Finally, the model predicting life satisfaction
accounted for 62% (P<.001) of the variance, with lower greater levels of social network intimacy (P<.01) and lower feelings of loneliness (P<.001) being significant predictors.
Conclusions
These findings highlight the importance of having access to network members in one's
home for better physical and mental health after SCI/D as well as the negative association
between loneliness and mental health and life satisfaction. There is a need for approaches
to ensure that people with SCI/D in the community feel supported to mitigate feelings
of loneliness to optimize their health and wellbeing.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
LTF (Long-term Follow-up), RHSCIR (Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry), SCI (spinal cord injury), SCI/D (spinal cord injury/dysfunction), SCS-M (Secondary Conditions Scale–Modified), SF-36 (Short-Form 36), SHC (secondary health condition)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Archives of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Social relationships and health: a flashpoint for health policy.J Health Soc Behav. 2010; 51: S54-S66
- Perceived social isolation makes me sad: 5-year cross-lagged analyses of loneliness and depressive symptomatology in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study.Psychol Aging. 2010; 25: 453-463
- Loneliness predicts increased blood pressure: 5-year cross-lagged analyses in middle-aged and older adults.Psychol Aging. 2010; 25: 132-141
Walker P. May appoints minister to tackle loneliness issues raised by Jo Cox. The Guardian. 2018. Available at:www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/16/may-appoints-minister-tackle-loneliness-issues-raised-jo-cox. Accessed March 15, 2019.
- Social isolation, loneliness, and all-cause mortality in older men and women.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013; 110: 5797-5801
- Social disconnectedness, perceived isolation, and health among older adults.J Health Soc Behav. 2009; 50: 31-48
- Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health.J Health Soc Behav. 2011; 52: 145-161
- Network range and health.J Health Soc Behav. 1992; 33: 254-266
- Exploring the determinants of support provision: provider characteristics, personal networks, community contexts, and support following life events.J Health Soc Behav. 1996; 37: 252-264
- The effect of social relationships on psychological well-being: are men and women really so different?.Am Socio Rev. 1996; : 837-857
- Gender differences in caregiving among family − caregivers of people with mental illnesses.World J Psychiatry. 2016; 6: 7-17
- Lonely but not alone: emotional isolation and social isolation as two distinct dimensions of loneliness in older people.Educ Psychol Measure. 2001; 61: 119-135
- The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain.Ageing Soc. 2005; 25: 357-375
- Measuring social isolation among older adults using multiple indicators from the NSHAP study.J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2009; 64: i38-i46
- Predicting life satisfaction after spinal cord injury in a Canadian sample.Spinal Cord. 2008; 46: 380-385
- Measurement and evidence of environmental determinants on participation and environmental factors in spinal cord injury: a systematic review.Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2011; 90: S66-S78
- Loneliness among people with spinal cord injury: exploring the psychometric properties of the 3-item loneliness scale.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2016; 97: 1728-1734
- Social networks and secondary health conditions: the critical secondary team for individuals with spinal cord injury.J Spinal Cord Med. 2012; 35: 330-342
- Paraplegia from spinal cord injury: self-esteem, loneliness, and life satisfaction.OTJR Occup Part Health. 2002; 22: 96-103
- Social isolation after spinal cord injury: indicators from the Longitudinal Aging Study.Rehabil Psychol. 2016; 61: 408-416
- The impact of loneliness and relationship quality on life satisfaction: a longitudinal dyadic analysis in persons with physical disabilities and their partners.J Psychosomatic Res. 2018; 110: 61-67
- SwiSCI Study Group. Mental health in individuals with spinal cord injury: the role of socioeconomic conditions and social relationships.PLOS One. 2019; 14e0206069
- Impact of impairment and secondary health conditions on health preference among Canadians with chronic spinal cord injury.J Spinal Cord Med. 2012; 35: 361-370
- Understanding age effects associated with changes in secondary health conditions in a Canadian spinal cord injury cohort.Spinal Cord. 2010; 48: 330-335
- Secondary health complications in an aging Canadian spinal cord injury sample.Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2008; 87: 545-555
- The Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR): a national patient-registry.Spinal Cord. 2012; 50: 22-27
- International standards for neurological classification of spinal cord injury (revised 2011).J Spinal Cord Med. 2011; 34: 535-546
- G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences.Behav Res Methods. 2007; 39: 175-191
- Preliminary reliability and validity of a Spinal Cord Injury Secondary Conditions Scale.J Spinal Cord Med. 2007; 30: 131-139
- Statistical design and estimation for the national social life, health, and aging project.J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2009; 64: i12-i19
- An examination of objective social disconnectedness and perceived social isolation among persons with spinal cord injury/dysfunction: a descriptive cross-sectional study.Disabil Rehabil. 2021; 43: 69-75
- A short scale for measuring loneliness in large surveys: results from two population-based studies.Res Aging. 2004; 26: 655-672
- The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection.Med Care. 1992; 30: 473-483
- User's manual for the 36v2® health survey.Quality Metric Incorporated, Lincoln, RI2007
- Enabling our instruments: accommodation, universal design, and access to participation in research.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2000; 81: S5-S9
- Life satisfaction in 18- to 64-year-old Swedes: in relation to gender, age, partner and immigrant status.J Rehabil Med. 2002; 34: 239-246
- Facilitators and barriers to social and community participation following spinal cord injury.Aust Occup Ther J. 2016; 63: 19-28
- Social support, depression, and physical disability: age and diagnostic group effects.Disabil Health J. 2014; 7: 164-172
- Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.PLoS Med. 2010; 7e1000316
- Physical activity and life satisfaction among individuals with spinal cord injury: exploring loneliness as a possible mediator.J Spinal Cord Med. 2020 May 7; ([Epub ahead of print])
- Social isolation, loneliness and health among older adults.J Aging Health. 2012; 24: 1346-1363
- The Covid-19 pandemic and people with disability.Disabil Health J. 2020; 13100944
- Raising awareness of disabled lives and health care rationing during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Psychol Trauma. 2021; 12: S210-S211
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 28, 2021
Accepted:
March 19,
2021
Received in revised form:
February 12,
2021
Received:
July 23,
2020
Footnotes
Supported by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation - Psychosocial Research Pilot Grant (grant no. 364897).
Disclosures: Sander L. Hitzig received salary support to work on this project. The other authors have nothing to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
