1.A Nationwide Assessment of Psychosocial Adjustment and Its Associated Factors in People With Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders (PA-SCID): The Study Protocol
Danial Asyraf Saharuddin ; Julia Patrick Engkasan ; Aaron Fernandez ; Chew Boon How
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2021;17(No.1):57-67
Introduction: This article aims to describe the study protocol of a nationwide survey on psychosocial adjustment of
people with spinal cord injury or disorders (SCID) and its associated factors. SCID is a complex clinical condition
and debilitating public health issues to families and societies. Psychosocial adjustment is represented in this study
as health-related quality of life, perceived social support, coping, independence, and spiritual well-being. This study
aims to determine the psychosocial adjustment of people with SCID in Malaysia. Methods: This is a study protocol
for a nationwide cross-sectional postal and online survey of people with SCID. Cross-cultural adaptation and hypothesis-validity testing will be conducted for independence and spiritual well-being measures. A total of 786 eligible
participants will be recruited from eight public hospitals in the Peninsular, Sabah, and Sarawak. The questionnaires
include the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF), Spinal Cord Independence Measure
– Self-report (SCIM-SR), Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief COPE), Medical Outcome Survey –
Social Support (MOS-SSS) and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Spiritual Well-being Short Version
(FACIT-Sp-12). HRQoL measured by WHOQOL-BREF is the main primary outcome of this study. Independent association between the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics with the outcome variables will be determined
separately using multiple linear regression. Discussion: The findings of the study will be informative regarding the
causes of SCID and factors associated with psychosocial adjustment in Malaysia. It will benefit future medical and
public health initiatives to improve on the existing rehabilitation programs and social services to people with SCID.