The Stockholm spinal cord injury study: 4. Psychosocial and financial issues of the Swedish annual level-of-living survey in SCI subjects and controls

Abstract

In a series of articles from the Stockholm Spinal Cord Injury Study (SSCIS), the health status of a near-total regional SCI population comprising 353 subjects has been investigated. The present study describes the psycho-social and financial consequences of SCI in this group. It is based on a level-of-living survey that has been used annually on 8000-14 000 Swedes since 1974. The health-focused version of this survey was used for data collection in the subset of 326 subjects in the SSCIS that were residents of the Greater Stockholm area. The normative material consisted of 1978 interviews of residents of the same area, provided by the Swedish Bureau of Statistics. The results show that SCI subjects, although provided with basic material commodities up to par with the general population, have less financial reserves and more frequently express worry about their finances. Less than half of the subjects are gainfully employed, when part-time jobs are also included. Social activities are more restricted, and more centered on the core social network. Several items in the survey point to a preoccupation with personal rather than public matters. We feel that these factors, at least to some degree, are consequential to separation from the workplace, with resulting disadvantageous financial and social effects. Intensified vocational rehabilitation efforts might thus be justified from both an economic and a psycho-social point of view.