ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Descriptive & Survey Study

Authors

Tahmasebi   H. (*)
Abasi   E. (1)
Zafari   M. (1)
Darvish Gkezri   H. (2)






(*) Nursing Department, Medical Faculty, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
(1) Midwifery Department, Medical Faculty, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
(2) Nursing Department, Medical Faculty, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Medical Faculty, Islamic Azad University, Khazar Square, Sari, Iran
Phone: -
Fax: +98 (11) 33032746
hthahmasebi@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  May  31, 2016
Accepted:  August 14, 2016
ePublished:  August 31, 2016

BRIEF TEXT


Spinal cord injuries are the main problems related to the health [1].

… [2-11]. Saadat et al. in their research showed that paraplegic disabled people are more deprived of their social and human rights compared to the paraplegic veterans and are socially isolated, poor and often unemployed. In contrast veterans are exposed to economic, social and health support from people and government [12]. … [13].

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the quality of life in non-war handicapped paraplegic persons and veterans in Mazandaran province.

This is a descriptive-analytic study.

This study was conducted in 2015. The research population consisted of 64 paraplegic veterans under the support of Mazandaran Province Martyr Foundation and 236 paraplegic disabled persons under the support of Disabled Welfare Organization of Mazandaran Province.

29 veterans and 106 paraplegic handicapped (totally 135 persons) were selected through stratified random sampling. Inclusion criteria were being male, being married, having the age over 35 years old, having the history of at least 10 years of being handicapped, having interest in participating in this study, and the ability to perceive and reply to the questions. Exclusion criteria were, also, using mind-alerting and psychotropic medications. Methods for sampling was in the way that at first each province was divided geographically into three parts and then from the provincial center, central cities and from the east of province east cities and from the west of province, west cities were selected by lottery.

The required information was collected through questionnaire. This questionnaire was structured in two parts: the first part was related to demographic specifications (age and educational level) and the second session contained 36 healthy-related qualify of life questions of 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). SF-36 was designed by Ware & Sherbourne [14] in 2013 and its reliability and validity were studied in different groups of patients. This questionnaire contains 36 questions and evaluate life quality in the dimensions of general health, physical function, physical role, emotional role, bodily pain, social function, vitality and mental health [15]. In this questionnaire, life quality is being measured quantitatively from zero to 100. Zero shows the worst and 100 shows the best condition. This questionnaire has already been adapted for the Iranian population. The results of study conducted by Montazeri et al [5] and Asghari Moghadam and Faghihi [16] showed that this test has acceptable reliability and validity. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16 software and descriptive statistics including measures of central tendency, distribution as well as inferential statistics including independent t-test and chi-square test.

The mean age of veterans was 49.72±5.34 years (age range of 39-63) so as 47.36±5.92 for handicapped. In terms of educational status, in both veterans and handicapped persons, most people had the educational level less than diploma and the least number of people had the BA/BS or MA/MS educational level. There was no significant different between the two groups in terms of age and educational level and the two groups were homogeneous (Table 1; p>0.05). The mean score of life quality in the veterans group was significantly more than the disabled persons group. In evaluation of life quality dimensions, also, the mean score indicated the better condition of veterans that there was a significant difference in the dimensions of physical function, emotional role, mental health, social function, and general health between the two groups (p<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in the dimensions of physical role, vitality, and bodily pain between the two groups (p>0.05, Table 2).

… [17-21]. Different studies have reported different results regarding disabled people`s and veterans` life quality [12, 22]. Some expresses the life quality of two groups and some expresses the difference in the different dimensions of life quality.

It is suggested that researchers be conducted with more sampling and from other province of Iran.

Of the limitations of this study were the lack of access to more number of samples and limited statistical population of Mazandaran province. Therefore, the results are not generalizable to other provinces.

The life quality of paraplegic disabled people and veterans is not in an appropriate condition and non-veteran disabled persons have lower life quality compared to the veterans.

The researcher appreciates the cooperation of respectful authorities of Mazandaran Martyr Foundation as well as Mazandaran Welfare Department.

Non-declared

This study has confirmation from the ethical committee of Azad University of Sari.

This study has been taken from a research projected and has been supported by Research Deputy of Azad University of Sari.

TABLES and CHARTS

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CITIATION LINKS

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