Kalsoom Fatima, Naveed Babur, Shazia Khalid.
Quality of Life and Psychosocial Health of Paraplegic and Lower Limb Amputees in Pakistan.
Int J Rehab Sci Jan ;06(01):38.

Background: Paraplegia and amputation are two different physical conditions with same outcome, that is, loss of lower-limb function. According to an estimate, the total number of amputees in the World is 10 million. Both conditions are accompanied by profound emotional, psychological, and social challenges for the individual and his / her family. In Pakistan ratio of paraplegia is very alarming. The people, who experience trauma, leading to paraplegia, have reported lower self-esteem, more worry, and psychological problems Objectives: Main objective of present study was to ascertain the level of depression and anxiety in lower limb amputees and caretakers. To compare the Self-Esteem of paraplegics, lower limb amputees and caretaker. Material & Methods: Present study was conducted in two phases. Phase (I) was planned to translate the scales in to Urdu language and to establish their psychometric properties. Phase (II) was conducted to compare anxiety depression and self- esteem among paraplegics, lower limb amputees and caretakers. In phase (I) the participants for pilot study comprised of 30 paraplegics, 30 lower limb amputees and 30 caretakers of lower limb amputees and paraplegics. Their ages ranged from 21 to 60. The results of pilot study indicated that the scales used in present study were reliable and all items had the required item to total correlation. In the phase (II) study data were taken from a total of 150 participants with equal number of paraplegics, lower limb amputees and caretakers. Hospital anxiety and depression scale was used to assess the anxiety and depression (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983).Rosenberg (1965) Self Esteem scale was used to measure the Self-Esteem. Results: As anticipated, lower limb amputees reported low self-esteem (18.9±2.3) as compared to paraplegics (19.6±1.9) and caretakers (27.4±1.4).These results were found to be significant, F (2,137) = 241, p<0.05 among lower limb amputees and caretakers. But the difference among lower limb amputees (M=18.9, SD=2.3) and paraplegics (19.6±1.9) is not significant. Similarly significant results (F [2,147] = 34, p<0.05) were also obtained for the second hypothesis high level of anxiety and depression in paraplegics (27.5±5.6) as compared to caretakers (21.1±3.8).But difference among lower limb amputees (26.1±1.9) and paraplegics (27.5±5.6) on anxiety and depression is not significant. Conclusion: The findings indicated psychological intervention is to be included as part of management after having paraplegia and lower limb amputation. The present study holds direction for future researches for the psychological well-being of paraplegics and lower limb amputees.

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