Factors Associated with Quality of Life among Caregivers of People with Spinal Cord Injury

This study investigates the quality of life (QoL) and its associated risk factors among caregivers of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) to find possible ways to increase their QoL. The family members of people with SCI, who become informal caregivers, are usually the primary source of assistance and facilitate activities such as eating, dressing, and toileting. The level of injury, self-perceived caregiver burden, and depression are associated with QoL for the caregivers of people with SCI.

• 1
  Moderate to highly significant negative correlations were observed between all domains of the WHOQoL scale and subscales of the CBS and the BDI-II.
• 2
  After controlling for demographic and clinical variables, depression, burden, and level of injury were found to predict caregiver QoL significantly.
• 3
  QoL was lower in caregivers of people with quadriplegia than paraplegia (p < 0:05).